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Lots of water under the bridge since the last missive.
Some great local events and some awesomely exciting international results.
For most, the R150pm YouTube subscription to the ICF live streaming coverage is a bridge too far. Those who have taken the plunge will have received an entire year’s worth of satisfaction after the last two weekends.
Hamish Lovemore has set the world alight with consistent performances at two World Cups, on consecutive weekends.
With performances at World Cup events contributing valuable points towards the new ICF ranking points to qualify for the LA Olympics, all of the top contenders were at Szeged in Hungary – canoeing's equivalent of St. Andrews – in early May.
Hamish won both his heat and his semi final in the 1000m K1. He then lined up in the final against the “who's who” of world sprinting – highlighted by the fact the reigning Olympic champion did not make the A final – in what is considered the blue ribbon event on the program.
A slight miscalculation as to how fast the boys came out of the blocks saw our champ ending in 9th place – but get this, he came last in the final in a time of 3min 28sec. That is an average speed of 17.31kph, for an entire kilometre, from a dead start.
Most of us plonkers would not get up to that speed, for even one second, if we did the best 20 strokes of our lives.
The Portuguese ace, Fernando Pimenta, won the race.
Burying his disappointment, Hamish then lined up in the K1 5000m. A hugely exciting race eventually saw a three-boat breakaway with Pimenta, marathon world champ Mads Pedersen and Hamish. The Umdloti speedster popped a gasket close to the finish, but hung on for a bronze medal. Pimenta managed to hold off Mads for his second gold of the weekend.
It was payback last weekend in Brandenburg.
Hamish did not stick his neck out in his heat, nor his semi final in the 1000m K1, but produced a shock performance in the final.
He stuck with the leaders until the half way mark and then took the lead through 750m. A late surge from the multiple world champion and 2022 Olympic champion, Balint Kopasz, saw the gold medal go to the Hungarian, just ahead of Hamish. Australia’s Tom Green secured the bronze, with the gold medalist from a week before, Pimenta, just off the podium.
Hamish then replicated his 5000m result, sharing the podium with the same two sprint stars as in Szeged. This time, however, it was Pedersen who claimed victory. The much-anticipated end sprint between Hamish and Pimenta did not materialise as a dropped boat at the last portage ended that opportunity.
Three world cup medals in the space of nine days. An absolutely remarkable achievement.
The South African squad that represented the country at the two world cups included Nick Weeks, Christian Coetzee, Uli Hart, Esti Olivier and Helen Jansen Van Vuuren.
The full set of results were posted on all PSA social media platforms, as well as in a separate PSA newsletter and on the website.
Sticking to sprinting. This weekend we have two athletes, Kayla Szalay and Helen Jansen Van Vuuren, who will represent the country at a junior and U23 regatta in Bratislava, Slovakia.
We also have representation at the ICF marathon world cup in Bazhong, China this weekend.
Saskia Hockly, Brad Boulle and Clint Cook will be racing the short course tomorrow and the long course on Sunday.
The event will be live streamed. The link is https://m.yangshipin.cn/video?type=2&vid=2030966003&pid=600223257&ptag=4_3.2.7.23780_wxf
Bazhong is six hours ahead of us. The short distance heats start at 09h15, with the finals being held at 14h00.
The long distance races will start at 08h30 on Sunday.
A couple of major local events have taken place since the last newsletter and a couple of national teams have been selected.
All have been extensively covered by our social media platforms.
A quick recap.
The trial to select the national team to compete at the ICF Ocean Racing World Championships in La Vila Joiosa, Spain, in October was held in Cape Town on the 25th of last month. Paddlers enjoyed superb conditions on the course from Fish Hoek to Buffels Bay.
Uli Hart dominated the event with a one minute win over fellow Capetonian Nic Notten (recently a Vaalie). Kenny Rice finished in fourthh, sandwiched between the two old men of the sea, Hank McGregor and Dawid Mocke. In the women’s category, current world champion, Kira Bester, once again proved that she is still on top of her game by also pulling a minute advantage over Melanie Van Niekerk, with Jade Wilson in 3rd.
The U23 categories were won by Matt Coetzer and Saskia Hockly and the juniors by another world champion, Sam Mocke and Alayah Krogscheepers.
The SA national ocean paddling team for 2026 is as follows:
Senior Men: Nicholas Notten, Kenneth Rice' Ulvard Hart, Hank McGregor, Dawid Mocke
U23 Men: Matthew Rory Coetzer, Luke Le Roux, Matthew Coetzer
U18 Men: Samuel Mocke, Ryley Smith, Keegan Vogt
Senior Women: Kira Bester, Jade Wilson, Melanie Van Niekerk
U23 Women: Saskia Hockly, Holly Smith, Nicola Harcus
Junior Women: Isabella Strydom, Alayah Krogscheepers, Hanna Solomon
The action remained in Cape Town after the selection race, with the iconic Freedom Paddle being held two days later, on Monday the 27th, which was Freedom Day.
The race was held under sublime weather conditions, but some challenging sea conditions.
I followed the race in a luxury launch, care of my fat German mate. The swell on the back side of Robben Island was not altogether small.
At the half way mark, Josh Fenn and Andy Birkett looked like they had the race sewn up, with over a 100m lead.
The youngsters, Matt Coetzer and Luke Le Roux, had other ideas and somehow managed to close the gap and stretch a minute advantage of their own before the finish line. Josh and Andy claimed the silver, with the father and son combo of Dawid and Sam Mocke securing third place.
No surprises in the women’s race, which was won by Kira Bester and Melanie Van Niekerk, ahead of world champion silver medalist Rosie Edwards and Saskia Hockly, with Holly Smith and Jade Wilson coming third.
Kira and Rosie then jetted of to Madiera to take part if the ICF Ocean Racing world cup where they produced a replica of the world championship result, coming first and second.
The final selection event to choose teams to represent South Africa at the ICF Canoe Polo World Championships, which will be held in Duisberg, Germany, was held over the first weekend of this month.
After careful deliberation by the selectors, the following three teams were announced:
South African Senior Men: Buchler, Kyle, Burger, Niel, De Bree, Chris, Hardy, Kyle, Jacobie, Herman Karl, Ligeti, Jack, Marx, Ruhan, Truby, James
South African U21 Men: Clulee, David, Edwards, Warren, Gething, Ayden Darryl, Guberman, Dru, Lutolf, Luca, Mccondochie, Jaidon, Phitidis, Luca, Smit, Daniel
South African U21 Women: Bottger, Abigail, Bottger, Sara-Lee, Lesch, Emmerentia, Lesch, Lecetia, Lutolf, Giulia, Nel, Zeanté, Sharpley, Yaelah, Webster, Lila
Management Staff:
Team Manager: Don Wewege
U/21 Women's Coach: Elna Betz
U/21 Men's Coach: Clive Whitton
Men's Coach: Holger Diedrich
Physio: Juanita Fourie
Assistant Coach: Timo Haseleu
Assistant Coach & Physio: Florian Godde
Attention will now shift to marathon racing.
Both the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape will be hosting their union marathon championships this weekend.
PSG (GCU) have decided on the 6-7 June.
KZN has decided to leave theirs until a lot closer to the SA Championships, which will be held at the Peninsula club over the first weekend in July. |
