ROODEPLAAT DAM, Pretoria – Hamish Lovemore emerged from the 2024 South African Marathon Championships at the weekend with a perfect hat-trick of victories as he claimed the short course and long course K1 titles and was also crowned national champion in the K2 race with Andy Birkett.
The Team Euro Steel pair of Lovemore and Birkett are deep into their Olympic programme and clearly their preparations for Paris are paying off, with Lovemore emerging as the undisputed star of the marathon champs held at Roodeplaat Dam outside Pretoria over the weekend.
In the women’s races, Christie Mackenzie and Saskia Hockly were almost as impressive with a dominant performance in the long course K1 race that ended in the Euro Steel team-mates agreeing to a tie, before teaming and romping home to a convincing win in the K2 race.
Lovemore started the weekend with a win in the short course race on Friday afternoon when he edged out veteran Hank McGregor in a race that may just be a metaphor for the changing of the guard in South African canoeing.
The 46-year-old McGregor is still churning out results that indicate he is most definitely still a major factor in any elite race he enters. However, the 11-time Marathon World Champion was forced onto the lower steps of the podium this weekend. And the only time his biggest rival in recent years, three-time World Champion Birkett, was able to claim a foothold on the highest level of the podium was when he shared a boat with Lovemore.
It is probably still too early to claim McGregor and Birkett have completely given way to the 24-year-old Lovemore, but three wins at arguably the country’s toughest championship, prove the youngster may not be far from being crowned SA’s new King of Canoeing.
In the blue riband event of the championships, the long course K1, Birkett was edged out by his young doubles partner by less than a second in the final sprint, after the two had broken away and turned the event into a two-horse race.
The men’s K2 race was more closely contested with a six-boat lead group being whittled down to five and then four for the final lap. However, the Birkett / Lovemore combination was always the dominant force, so it was no surprise when the two Olympic paddlers eased away in the final sprint and left McGregor and Uli Hart to hold on for second from Luke Salmon and Clint Cook.
In the women’s events, Mackenzie and Hockly were the dominant players over the weekend and everything was set up for them to contest the final sprint in the K1 race before the team-mates agreed to share the honours – with Nix Birkett just off the pace in the dash to the line. Then, in the final event of the weekend, the pair were able to power home with a small gap on the final lap of the K2 event.
Jade Wilson, the winner of the short course race on Friday, and Nix Birkett came from third at the start of the final lap to claim the silver in the K2 race, with Jenna Nisbet and Bridgitte Hartley rounding out the podium.
Not surprisingly, world junior champions Georgia Singe and Holly Smith dominated the junior women’s events and claimed a massive junior K2 win, while Singe was a comfortable winner over Smith in the junior K1 event.
SELECTED RESULTS
Long Course K1
Men
1 Hamish Lovemore 2:07:18
2 Andy Birkett 2:07:18
3 Uli Hart 2:08:31
Women
1 Christie Mackenzie 2:05:31
1 Sakia Hockly 2:05:31
3 Nix Birkett 2:05:34
Junior Men
1 Keegan Vogt (U16) 1:40:35
2 Ryley Smith (U16) 1:40:36
3 Jared Shrimpton (U16) 1:41:49
Junior Women
1 Georgia Singe 1:33:15
2 Holly Smith 1:39:48 3
3 Emma Privett (U16) 1:44:02
Long Course K2
Men
1 Hamish Lovemore / Andy Birkett 2:03:28
2 Uli Hart / Hank McGregor 2:03:30
3 Luke Salmon / Clint Cook 2:03:32
Women
1 Saskia Hockly / Christie Mackenzie 1:59:30
2 Jade Wilson / Nix Birkett 1:59:37
3 Jenna Nisbet / Bridgitte Hartley 1:59:42
Junior Men
1 Jared Shrimpton / Ryley Smith (U16) 1:37:29
2 Theo Dreyer / Tyde Malherbe1:38:57
3 Liam Stephenson / Matthew Coetzer 1:38:52
Junior Women
1 Holly Smith / Georgia Singe 1:29:30
2 Hana Newlands / Tayla Norton (U16) 1:36:44
3 Libby Ross / Hannah Trower (U16) 1:48:14
Short Course
Men
1 Hamish Lovemore 14:10
2 Hank McGregor 14:13
3 Uli Hart 14:17
Women
1 Jade Wilson 16:08
2 Bridgitte Hartley 16:17
3 Georgia Singe 16:25