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First off, a “tail between the legs” moment along with an apology.
While trying to fill Hamish with smoke in my last newsletter, I incorrectly mentioned that “South Africa has not won a men’s sprinting medal at a World Cup, or World Championships, since the early 2000s”.
The backlash to this statement, from a united sprint community, was swift: I have received the appropriate counselling and have committed to double checking my facts before making broad sweeping statements.
Before my time as SG, when there was sometimes a smattering of funding and even a national coach for a short period, an impressive number of international medals were won at world cup events. The athletes who were responsible for winning them were Shaun Rubenstein, Alan van Coller and Mike Arthur.
In the era of almost zero funding, the standout sprinter has been Chrisjan Coetzee, who has won two world cup medals (bronze in 2019 and silver in 2021).
These achievements need to be appreciated against the predominant culture of paddling in our country over the years, which has largely concentrated on marathon and surfski racing.
Sprinting is a lonely discipline, and the international standard is absurdly high. Even making an A final is an awesome achievement.
To add insult to injury, SASCOC had a policy whereby our sprinters were denied participation at the Olympic Games for a number of years, due to the fact they refused to recognise continental qualification.
Fortunately, this policy has changed, and our Olympic disciplines have a very attractive carrot to reward outstanding performances.
Outstanding performances are also what will be required at the SA Marathon Championships, being held in Upington from tomorrow, if selection to the national team is the objective.
Although a smaller number of paddlers than normal will be at the start line of most of the categories, the standard of racing will still be impressive.
For the first time since some of the younger paddlers were even born, Hank will not be contesting the K1 title. He has opted to throw all his eggs into one basket and concentrate on the K2 event on Sunday. His consistent presence on the front group will be missed.
At the risk of having to make additional apologies next week, my prediction is going to be a Hamish/Andy dual for the men’s K1 gold. The three paddlers who have a chance of upsetting the apple cart are, Clint Cook, Uli Hart and Nick Notten.
The women’s race will be missing the presence of Kira Bester, Melanie van Niekerk and Georgia Singe.
The winner is unlikely to come from outside the quartet of Nix Birkett, Jade Wilson, Saskia Hockly and Jenna Nisbet.
The short course results are almost certainly going to feature the same protagonists in both the women’s and the men’s races.
The senior women’s K2 may become a bit of a procession, with only 2 boats really in the mix. The Saskia/Pippa and Jenna/Jade combinations should not build up too much of a sweat keeping the rest of the field at bay.
In the men’s K2 race, there may be a little more antagonism. Most must agree that the Andy/Hamish crew will be very difficult to beat. However, the crews of Clint/Nick, Hank/Uli, Matt Fenn/Shaun Rubenstein, Wayne Jacobs/Brad Boulle and Matt Coetzer/Ron Benjano, may have a say in the outcome.
As usual, the guppies, juniors, U23’s and masters will quite possibly attract much of the applause.
Further applause must go to the organisers who have been faced with a high river that refused to subside until very late in the day, leaving them with the unenviable task of trying to reconstruct the portage.
The event will be live streamed on Supersport Schools. |
