McGregor takes hometown glory

With a tough overnight deficit to overturn, Hank McGregor and Lee Furby paddled like champions as they stole victory back from the jaws of defeat on the second stage of the Gara Dolphin Coast Challenge from Salt Rock to Zinkwazi on Sunday.

The opening stage took paddlers 42kms from Suncoast Pirates Surf Lifesaving Club to Salt Rock and the mild conditions gave team Matt Bouman and Wade Krieger the edge as they pipped Euro Steel/Epic Kayak’s McGregor and partner Furby to the opening day honours.

Bouman and Krieger went into the second 32km leg of the race with a significant 40 second advantage over the chasing McGregor and Furby while Luke Nisbet and Gene Prato were three minutes back in third.

Not to be defeated on his home turf Salt Rock’s McGregor and his partner Furby turned on the heart on day two.

“We were hoping to win both days but we had a little altercation with a surfer and we fell off our ski on the sprint to the beach on Saturday,” McGregor said after their overall win.

“That error definitely made us more hungry to win the second stage and I am really stoked that myself and Lee were able to put in the performance we did today. Being part of the race from a sponsorship point of view just made it that much better to win – it was a great stage for us to be on and win on,” he said.

The race was an exciting one heading into the final stage and all the contenders decided to take varying lines in the benign conditions on Sunday with McGregor and Furby’s tactics proving to be the difference on the day.

“We decided to not go too deep today and rather remain in the shallower water whilst Matt and Wade went deep which made quite a big difference at the end of the race. Steve (Woods) and Bevan (Manson) used a similar tactic to us and they managed to get second on the stage today. The conditions were tough today with an off shore wind blowing and I think that the fitter pairs were able to benefit from it,” said McGregor.

Despite a excellent second day, which saw them finish second, Woods and Manson ended outside the top three with Nisbet and Prato taking the final podium position.

The only all-ladies team of Nikki Russell and Jenna Ward, came home in fourteenth place overall.

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