Lowveld Canoe Club paddles to glory
The Homestead Lake in Benoni held the South African Marathon Championships over the past weekend.
Current World Marathon champ Hank McGregor won both the K1 and K2 titles while Olympic bronze medallist Bridgitte Hartley won the ladies K1 title.
The Lowveld Canoe Club (LCC) brought home three medals – one gold and two silver. Despite the arrival of bitterly cold weather, the weekend provided red-hot canoeing competition.
The K1 race took place on Saturday with Gustav Smook winning gold in the submasters category in 1:50:43,60 beating his nearest rival Gustav Radloff in a sprint finish. A couple of years’ training came together for Smook and he was crowned the South AfricanMarathon champion in his category. Andreas van Tonder won silver in his category in 1:58:09,53.
Wikus and Dewiko Loots would have shared a K1 to race, however, equipment failure at the last minute resulted in their borrowing an old Dusi boat. “This did not work out well for them at all. Dewiko had to bail and Wikus limped home,” said Eric Dixon of LCC. Gustav Jr competed in his first-ever SA championship for boys u/14 and came in with a time of 1:35:00,78.
On Sunday the Lowvelders raced in the K2. Dewiko (u/16) and Gustav Jr (u/12) had to compete in the u/16 section and came fifth.
“To put it into perspective, fourth were Gavin Shuter and his partner, who is one of the top junior paddlers in the country. A brilliant performance by the two youngsters,” Dixon continued.
Smook teamed up with Radloff and they obtained silver in the subveteran category and finished with a time of 1:47:37,89.
Wikus and Van Tonder had a good race, but unfortunately did not make the podium.
A significant portion of the 400 entries have come from the veteran and masters age groups, where South Africa is particularly strong. In an exact parallel to the juniors, u/23s and seniors, the national selectors will also choose two boats in each veteran and masters age group to travel to the Masters Cup that precedes the Marathon World Championships every year.
Marathon racing is conducted in laps, with the Homestead Lake lap measuring 3,6km with a 100m portage at the end of every one.
