McGregor and Burn claim Bay Union Surfski Series spoils

HANK McGregor and Michelle Burn brought the curtain down on the popular Bay Union Surfski Series in style as they blitzed their way to victory in the Bay Union Reef Challenge.

This was the third and final leg of the series, and the two earned themselves the overall series spoils before adding the men’s Bay Union Shootout title to their collection as well.

The final battle of the series, staged at DUC for the first time ever, was a hard fought one of four short, sharp laps. Despite efforts from Grant van der Walt, Matt Bouman, Brandon van der Walt and Barry Lewin, it was McGregor who cruised to victory to make it win number three of the three race affair.

Having eased through the heat and semi-final of the novel Bay Union Shootout, McGregor managed to claw his way back from the worst possible start in the final to edge out a determined Bouman and take the Shootout spoils as well.

In the day’s feature race it was Brandon van der Walt who completed the first lap first, claiming the Lion of Africa Insurance Hotspot prize in the process, before back and forth racing between the lead group ultimately saw McGregor claim the spoils. The novel idea saw paddlers dice it out over a short, 800m triangular course with winner taking all in the age groups whilst a process of elimination finally saw the top four battle it out in the senior men’s category.

In the women’s sprint out, it was once again Burn, Danica Bartho and Jenna Ward who claimed first, second and third place while Gene Prato from Glenwood High School took the juniors title, Quinton Rutherford the over 40 men, Oscar Chalupsky the over 50 men and Oliver Burn and Warren Beuster the doubles title.

Earlier in the day the Wardkiss Paint and Hardware Team Challenge was aptly claimed by hosts DUC with Toti Canoe Club and Kingfisher Canoe Club finishing in second and third respectively.

The event brought down the curtain on Durban’s winter paddling season with many of the region’s paddling now turning their attention towards World Marathon Champs in Copenhagen, Denmark before tackling the Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon in Cradock whilst the next major surfski race in KZN is the Dolphin Coast Challenge on 17 and 18 August.