My immediate past literary masterpiece was penned almost a month ago.
I climbed onto a plane a couple of days after, and only arrived home a couple of days ago. 15 flights in 21 days. No wonder I am on my second course of antibiotics.
I even managed to pop over from Madeira, for a day, to visit my fat German / South African / Portuguese mate in Vila do Conde. The doctors had given him a few days to live, so I thought I would go over and pay my respects, and give him a last hug. I arrived to find him fully resplendent in golfing attire, issuing firm instructions to Herman and I to hurry up, as we had a tee off time in half an hour. Oscar, you are a man amongst men. You bring new meaning to the term "never say die", and are an inspiration to so many. Can't believe you missed that last putt though.
With the cancellation of the Fish, the domestic racing season has taken time to kick off with its usual vigour.
The international scene, on the other hand, has been a virtual whirlwind. There are many a parent – and their bank managers – who are ruing the day that they spawned talented sports kids.
With the large degree of discipline "cross over" in our country, there was a lot more than one paddler who had qualified for both the marathon team and the surfski team. Being two weeks apart, it did not make sense for many of them to return to the southern tip of Africa, only to repeat the trip before the washing had dried.
You would be in for a long day of reading if I had to give, even a short precis, of the performance of our individual team members at these two events. So, I am going to open myself to abuse and cherry pick.
Firstly, our marathon team had a mixed bag of results.
In some events, the podium did not represent what we had hoped. In others, it surpassed our expectations.
The masters, as usual, gave team SA a good kick start to the competition by securing an array of medals, in a variety of colours, in a many of the age groups (results attached).
The seniors, juniors, and U23 paddlers elected to avoid confusion and stuck to a single colour of medal throughout. Unfortunately, it was not gold, but the next best.
Georgia Singe managed to walk away with two silver medals after exciting races in both the K1 and the K2 with Holly Smith.
Hamish Lovemore gave SA a silver medal when he hung onto a rampant Mads Pederson in the men's K1 short course.
Uli Hart then stepped up to the plate and secured the middle step on the podium in the men's U23 K1.
Our last silver came in the form of Saskia Hockly and Christie MacKenzie in the senior women's K2, after some good tactics saw them hang onto the Hungarians for some help to the finish.
THE stand-out performance that did not end up with a medal was Keegan Vogt's fourth place in the junior men, after hanging onto the front group for the majority of the race. He is only 15 years old, so we have a number of years to watch his progress before he even leaves the junior ranks.
Unfortunately the team suffered a few setbacks with a number of DNF's for various reasons, including Andy Birkett sinking shortly after the start of the senior K1 where he would have started as one of the favourites.
All in all, a successful tour for our team, and results that we can be proud of.
Full senior, U23 and junior results here
Full masters results here
A short trip across the sea and a couple of weeks later, in Madeira, the SA surfski team opted for a change in medal colour. And what a job they did.
Out of a possible nine gold medals, our team returned home with seven.
The medal ceremony turned into a perpetual rendition of our national anthem.
The race was held between the towns of Machico and Funchal on the south coast of Madeira.
The course consisted of a two kilometre race to a buoy out to sea, and then a right hand turn, to run with the wind, for approximately 10 kms.
On the day of the single ski race, there were some superb downwind conditions. That was, until the paddlers rounded the point, and were faced with the last nine kilometres into a strong current and a headwind.
Germany's Gordan Harbrecht took off at the start like it was the 500m Olympic final. He had made a significant gap by the time he reached the buoy, and did not relinquish his lead until he crossed the line, to become the first paddler outside South Africa or Australian to have won the world championships since its inception in 2013.
Last year's winner, Cory Hill, and our own living legend, Hank MacGregor, scrapped it out for the two remaining podium positions, with the younger of the two managing to secure the silver, by a narrow margin.
After that, it was just a medal fest for the team.
Georgia Singe – Gold Junior women
Sam Mocke – Gold Junior Men
Matthew Fenn – Gold U23 Men
Kira Bester – Gold U23 Women
Kira Bester – Gold Overall
Michelle Burn – Gold Senior Women (silver overall)
The next day, saw another opportunity for the rainbow team to add to their medal tally in the double ski race.
The ICF only recognises one double ski category for world championship status, and that is the mixed double category.
Racing on the same course, but in very benign conditions, SA team members, junior Georgia Singe and Uli Hart won the race overall, to take the overall gold, as well as the U23 gold.
Matt Fenn and Saskia Hockly claimed the bronze in the senior category, and siblings Ryley and Holly Smith won the junior gold.
The nations cup, which is calculated according to points in the senior, junior and U23 classes, was won by South Africa, as was the friendship cup, which included results from the masters.
SS1 men's results
SS1 women's results
SS2 results
As if the international calendar for our athletes was not clogged up enough during this time of year, a number of our paddlers were invited, by the ICF, to a multi discipline event in Hangzhou, in the east of China. The ICF has just opened a satellite office in Hangzhou.
The Hangzhou "super cup" featured sprints, slalom, canoe polo and marathon. 500 selected athletes were invited to compete in these four disciplines, for a prize purse of $350 000.
South Africa featured in the medal table of the marathon events, with Andy Birkett making up for his disappointment in Croatia, by claiming the silver medal in the marathon short course, and the bronze in the long course.
He swapped places, in both, with Hamish Lovemore, who ended up with the bronze in the short course before being awarded the silver in the long course.
Neither could match the speed and stamina of Denmark's Mads Pedersen, the current world champion, who is currently in a league of his own.
The current women's world champion, Melina Andersson of Sweden, also produced a dominant display by winning both the long course and the short course.
Against an extremely strong field of invited paddlers, our SA representatives in the women's races, certainly did not embarrass themselves, with Saskia Hockly just missing out on a medal in the short course, finishing fourth, followed by a sixth in the long course. Nix Birkett, finished 10th in the long course.
Remaining on the international scene.
The best Canoe Polo teams are ready to fight for top honours as the 2024 International Canoe Federation Canoe Polo World Championships begins in Deqing, China this week.
Germany will enter the World Championships as the defending champions among men and women.
South Africa has a senior men's team entered. The team of Kyle Buchler, Neil Burger, Chris de Bree, Kyle Hardy, Luke Hoets, Ruhan Marx and Jamie Truby will play their opening game against Switzerland tomorrow.
The full schedule can be found on the CSA Facebook page. The event will be live streamed.
Word from team coach, Clive Whitton, is that the team are in good spirits and had arranged a number of warm up matches over the past few days.
The local paddling scene is also exploding with exciting races.
The next month looks like a smorgasbord of fantastic events.
This coming weekend is the best river race in the country, the Lowveld Croc. For those who are remotely competent in a river, it is an absolute must. The race consists of small, but technical rapids that are continuous. The locals go to great lengths to put on a good show. Once you have done one, you will tick it on your calendar every year.
Also on this weekend, is the Mouth to Mouth surfski race starting in Richards Bay. This is another classic annual event where the locals go out of their way to make you feel at home. If the NE wind is blowing, it is one of the best downwinds on the planet.
On the November 9-10 next month the Orange River Descent will be doubling as the SA K1 river champs.
This gem of a stretch of water gives paddlers a rare opportunity to paddle in a large volume of clean water, through some fantastic scenery.
Entries to all local events are through the CSA portal at paddler.canoesa.com. |