Pic: John Hishin
Despite torrential downpours and storms that ravaged the Western Cape 2 days before the event, the Best 4 Strand Paddle Battle – Race 5 in Cape Town Summer Surfski Series – turned out to be a great event, held in near perfect surfski conditions. American, Austin Keiffer, took top position on the day, with Strand legend Gary Cromie in 2nd place and Frenchman, Valentin Henot, in 3rd place. Junior World Champion, Kenny Rice, narrowly missed out on a podium position coming in 4th place.
“Today was a great day, with awesome support from everyone who took part, especially after the hectic weather conditions we have just experienced,” says Race Organiser, Nikki Mocke. “It’s wonderful to see all of the foreign athletes starting to arrive, really great for our local paddlers to compete against. Today we had five French contestants and one American.”
In the ladies race today, current series number one, Nikki Mocke, took 1st place, with Bianca Beavitt in 2nd position, Kim van Gysen in 3rd place, with a big dice between junior Kirsten Flanagan and French paddler, Angie Mooden for 4th and 5th places respectively.
A big thank you has to go out to the Gordon’s Bay NSRI team who kept us up to date with water conditions this entire weekend and were all on standby ready to assist today after the storm.
The Cape Town Surfski Series, powered by Vodacom, consists of eight races and the next race of the series will be held at the Oceana Boat Club on the Strand Beach on the 24th of November.
To take part, or for more info, visit www.capetownsurfski.com
Senior Results:
1. Austin Kieffer 1:01.34
2. Gary Cromie 1:01.51
3. Valentin Henot 1:02.03
Under 21 Results
1. Valentin Henot 1:02.03
2. Antoine Bihannic 1:07.47
3. Kirsten Gelderblom 1:21.33
Doubles Results
1. Peter Cole & Brandon Collyer 59:32
2. Nico Reddelinhuys & Rudi Schultz 1:06.09
3. Willem van der Westhuyzen & Herbert Conradie 1:08.06
Junior Results
1. Kenny Rice 1:02.03
2. Stuart Bristow 1:06.06
3. Tyrone Smolders 1:08.14
Ladies Results
1. Nikki Mocke 1:07.42
2. Bianca Beavitt 1:09.51
3. Kim van Gysen 1:11.10
For full results visit http://www.capetownsurfski.com/results.php