SA canoe racers fight for top spots in Hungary
Legendary paddler, Hank McGregor, defended his World Championship crown in Hungary.
TENSION filled the hearts of South African Canoe racers as legend Hank Mcgregor and U23 Jenna Ward both came from behind for memorable races at the 2015 ICF Canoe Marathon in Hungary.
Mcgregor fought back from quite a large deficit to claim his sixth global title in the K1 Senior Men's race on Saturday, with Ward winning bronze in the K1 Under-23 Women's race. Ward achieved the same feat in the same event in Oklahoma USA last year.
Mcgregor, who crossed the finish line just ahead of competitors Adrian Boros (Hungary) and Ivan Alonso (Spain) had won the K1 and K2 in Oklahoma last year to cap a successful title defense. Mcgregor explained that he had to “ dig deep” if he was going to get anything from the race.
On the fourth portage Mcgregor kicked off his pump which flooded his canoe by the fifth portage, this left his boat too heavy to carry. Mcgregor said “ The boat was so heavy I couldn't even carry it so I had to stop and put the pipe back on which cost me a good 150 meters.”
With Mcgregor falling behind, winning seemed but a fond memory for the South African, he summed up his feelings saying “ When you're racing the best in the world, you don't want to give anyone an edge , I knew I had to dig deep.” Mcgregor put in a massive push 200 meters before a turn , “before the turn they tried to hold me off (Boros and Alonso) but I still managed to catch up, I knew I needed one downriver leg to recover.”
“Once I put my nose in front, it's very hard to get past me and I'm really happy to have won,” he said.
Jenna Ward lost out to the winning position early in the start of the second lap with Hungarian star Vanda Kiszli making a move which would eventually hand her the winning spot, this left Ward to find a place amongst the top three.
The final portage gave Italy's Susanna Cicali the silver medal and Ward managed to beat out Noemi Misko( Hungary) for the bronze.
The race was extremely tough for Ward, she explained “ That was one of the hardest races I've ever had to race but it's not over until the end and I knew I had to keep fighting until the finish.”
