Nailbiting finish for 2019 Dusi

AN incredible end sprint saw Christie Mackenzie win her first FNB Dusi Crown from a valiant Tamika Haw while Andy Birkett fought illness to claim his ninth Dusi title at Blue Lagoon on Saturday afternoon.

The ladies race was always going to be a tight tussle into Durban with neither Mackenzie nor Haw giving an inch. The pair continued to match each other stroke for stroke right to the line where Mackenzie won a thrilling end sprint.

Haw has tasted success at the Dusi in a K2 with two podium finishes but this was the closest she came to winning the race but across the line it was pure elation on her face.

Incredibly there was another end sprint in the ladies race to decide third and fourth. Under 18 Amy Peckett proved she is a force to be reckoned with when she managed to catch Jenna Ward and then beat the marathon world championship medallist in an end sprint.

The men’s race threatened to be a procession with Euro Steel’s Birkett holding all the cards, however it was Euro Steel/Red Bull’s Sbonelo Khwela who showed that he wasn’t done and closed the five minute gap to just one minute and 10 seconds at one stage.

Birkett, who is second on the all-time Dusi champions list, didn’t think that this year’s race was up there with his best.

Despite his incredible Dusi record Birkett believes that this year’s win was one of the toughest he has had to work for.

It was clear that Khwela was out to make life as difficult for Birkett and, despite a silly swim at Tops Needle, he paddled and ran like a man possessed as he produced the fastest time of the day on Saturday.

Veteran Euro Steel athlete Thulani Mbanjwa finished in third place overall.

The U23 men’s contest was also going to go to the wire and it was Euro Steel’s Stew Little who produced the goods on Saturday to claim the age group crown ahead of Mpilo Zondi in second and Maswenkosi Mtolo in third on a day that saw Alan Houston hamstrung by illness once again.

Maritzburg College’s David Evans finished in an impressive seventh overall and claimed the junior boys crown ahead of College team mates Hamish Mackenzie and Scott Little.

In what was another unforgettable moment of day three, Olympic medallist Terence Parkin, who has cycled, run and swum over 1120km from Johannesburg to Durban for the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, and his partner Mark Mulder were forced to walk the final 16km to the finish after they broke their boat.

Parkin, who was in a moon boot after injuring his ankle running to the Dusi, walked on crutches while Mulder carried what was left of their boat and the pair swam across the line at Blue Lagoon.

More information can be found at www.dusi.co.za.

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