Hank third in Molokai

South Africa’s multiple world champion paddler Hank McGregor (Jeep Team) fought fiercely against a world-class field of paddlers at the 40th annual Molokai Surfski World Championships in Hawaii on Saturday, finishing the 53 km race in third place, just minutes behind Australians Cory Hill (first) and Clint Robinson (second).

McGregor, who won the race in 2014, was a dominant force throughout, leading the field until the final 2 km when Hill took an inside line at the Portlock Point that saw him pull ahead of McGregor and Robinson to finish in a time of 3h22m17s.

McGregor completed the race across the Kaiwi, one of the world’s roughest ocean channels, in 3h26m13s – nine minutes faster than his 2014 winning time of 3h35m17s.

Fellow South African and current I.C.F Surfski World Champion, Sean Rice, finished in fourth, with Australia’s Michael Booth in fifth and South Africa’s former World Series Champion Dawid Mocke in sixth.

McGregor returned to South Africa to compete in the 2015 South African Canoe Marathon Championships, which took place in Pietermaritzburg on June 6. He and partner Jasper Mocké won the K2 race, while McGregor lost a nail-biting sprint in the K1 race to Andy Birkett.