Ballito’s Scott Humphry is leading the charge in kayak cross after a flawless win at the national championships.

According to The North Coast Courier, the 40-year-old is the reigning South African kayak cross champion and is passionate about growing the relatively new sport in the country.

Kayak cross, which debuted at the Paris Olympics last year, is a fast-paced discipline that combines elements of white-water, sprint and slalom kayaking. Four paddlers race head-to-head through rapids, gates and obstacles – often with contact – requiring the use of daring skills such as the Eskimo roll, where paddlers intentionally roll underwater and back upright.

Humphry is one of the country’s top competitors and proved it with an unbeaten journey to victory in the open men’s division at the South African Championships, held on the Umzimkulu River in Underberg in early March.

“The racing went really well with a strong competitive field. The water levels were great on the day, providing quite a technical course,” said Humphry.

“I managed to clock the fastest time trial time, which also gave me a favourable starting position. From there we raced heats, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the finals and I was lucky enough to have a flawless day and win every race.”

It was his first national kayak cross victory, but he is no stranger to elite competition.

Originally a sprint specialist, he won the national 200m title four times in his youth and represented South Africa on multiple international tours. As recently as 2023, however, Humphry competed in the World Championships for slalom and kayak cross in the United Kingdom.

“I’m just working hard and keeping up the training as there’s talk of putting together a strong team to compete at next year’s Masters World Championships,” he said.

“That’s more my age group as I’m a lot older than the 18–24-year-olds I usually have to race against! But the goal right now is to grow the sport as much as possible and develop a base of juniors to keep it growing in the future.”

When not in his kayak, you can find Humphry spending time with his wife Melissa and son Cooper and enjoying another popular water sport, surfing. He also works in the cardiology industry for a medical device company – proving that even champions have day jobs.

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