Salt Rock trio triumph in Hawaii

Three Salt Rock paddlers have made the North Coast and South Africa proud at the Maui Jim Molokai Challenge in Hawaii.

Flat water marathon champion Hank McGregor and brothers Ross and Bruce Poacher claimed wins at the grueling 56 kilometre race.

The race saw competitors paddle their surfskis in unpredictable weather conditions in the Kaiwi channel. Better known as “The Moloka`i Channel”, the expanse of open ocean starts at Laau point on Moloka`i Island and ends off at Diamond Head on O`ahu Island.

The channel is considered to be one of the roughest in the world.

On race day, paddlers faced flat and windless conditions and two paddlers ended up in front battling it out for first place.

Defending champion Clint Robinson from Australia and 2009 winner McGregor went head-to-head for the race title.

McGregor ended up ahead with six kilometres to go and clinched the race 30 seconds ahead of Robinson.

McGregor’s training partner Jasper Mocké crossed the line to take fifth while 12 times surfski world champion Oscar Chalupsky finished tenth.

Salt Rock’s Ross and Bruce Poacher were the first doubles crew to cross the finish line.

Mellery Poacher, Ross and Bruce’s mother, was ecstatic to hear the results.

“It is amazing that they are all Salt Rock boys and it was nice to see a strong South African contingent. It was really awesome following the race on Monday morning,” she said.

Mellery chatted to her sons via Skype after the race.

“You should have seen the smiles on their faces, I do not think they will be rubbing off for a while,” she said.

“Most paddlers want to do the Molokai during their careers. They say that you have to have ‘big kahunas’ to take it on and each competitor has to have its own rescue craft, that sums up the danger of the race.”

The Poacher’s have lived in Salt Rock since 1984 and the brothers learned to paddle on our coastline. Ross lives in Durban North while Bruce recently moved to China and is the general manager at Epic Kayaks.

All three men rode Epic Kayaks during the Molokai.