Sprint Canoeing in South Africa

The sprint season is built around a autumn racing calendar in April and May each year, culminating in the SA Sprint Championships, and the hugely popular SA Schools Championships.

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More Silver Success for Hartley

Szeged - Racing at one of sprint kayaking’s iconic venues in Szeged, Hungary, the 19-strong South African sprint squad claimed two silver medals and an abundance of invaluable racing experience.

Bridgitte Hartley, South Africa’s top woman Olympic hopeful, once again proved her pedigree against some of the world’s top female paddlers in the 1000m K1 distance. Hartley was locked in battle with three other boats at the start of Saturday’s A-Final, but her signature kick in the last 250m allowed her to push ahead and claim the silver medal for South Africa. It was the perfect start for the team, but sadly no one else could push on to such high honours over the other short distance races.

Hartley also qualified for Sunday’s K1 500m A-Final, where she placed sixth in a star-studded lineup of Olympic and World champions, despite one of her best starts ever in the event. The short 200m sprint was even tougher on the national champion, as she only managed a second place in the C-Final.

The country’s other ladies 2012 Olympic hopeful, Jen Hodson, was unfortunately sick over the week leading up to the regatta, but still chose to compete and make the most of the opportunity to get back to top international standard after two seasons out. Normally a strong contender over the 200m distance, Hodson’s raw talent took her to third place in her semi-final, narrowly missing the A-final.

In the men’s racing, the dynamite pairing of Shaun Rubenstein and Mike Arthur were hoping to continue the form they showed last year in Szeged, where they claimed a silver medal, however this year they had to settle for 7th position in the K2 500m. The pair also lacked their normal powerful start in the K2 200m, and placed 4th in their semi-final, relegating them to the B-final which they went on to win comfortably. In the same race, brothers Ryan and Greg Louw placed a credible 6th overall.

Rising K1 star Nick Stubbs raced into first place in the 500m B-final while the young combination of Cam Schoeman and Stu Waterworth claimed a respectable 4th in the 500m K2 B-Final.

After a disappointing performance in France, the multi-talented Len Jenkins raced a spectacular 5000m marathon race, narrowly missing the gold medal to world champion and Olympic medalist Alan van Koeverden by centimetres.

Support from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund has allowed Canoeing South Africa to send a large team to compete internationally, and the experience the younger paddlers will gain is invaluable for future success. Racing through the heats to places in the C-Final and B-Final are stepping-stones en route to achieving A-Final positions and future medals.

While the rest of the SA squad now heads home to prepare for the World Championships to be held in Poznan, Poland in August, Bridgette Hartley is the only squad member who is continuing on to compete in the Duisberg World Cup in Germany next weekend.

Marc Cloete.

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SA National regattas and domestic trials 2010.

CSA Sprint Trials 2010 will be held as part of the SA Sprint Championships to be held at Nagle Dam 16th to 18th April 2010 with a supplementary trial on the 14th at the same venue.

CSA SUPPLEMENTARY TRIAL RESULTS can be found HERE
SA SPRINTS RESULTS DAY can be found HERE

SENIOR SELECTION DOCUMENT Available HERE
SUPPLEMENTARY SENIOR TRIAL INFORMATION Available HERE
JUNIOR SELECTION DOCUMENT Available HERE
YOUTH OLYMPICS SELECTION DOCUMENT Available HERE

SA Schools Sprint Championships Sat 24th to Mon 26th April 2010 at Nagle Dam.
RESULTS Available HERE.

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CSA SPRINT COMMITTEE 2010-2011