Salt Rock’s Hank and Pippa McGregor finished as the best mixed pair at this year’s Dusi Canoe Marathon.

The husband-and-wife duo led a 13-strong North Coast contingent at the race, which drew a full field despite some water quality concerns in the Umgeni River.

The McGregors were early favourites to win their category and did not disappoint, building a lead of more than six minutes ahead of next best mixed pair Bradley Boulle and Emma Hatfield after day one.

“We had done the Dusi together once before and set the record for the mixed pair category. Our main goal this year was to finish in the top 20, which has not been done by a mixed pair, at least in the modern era,” said Hank.

Day two played further into the hands of the strong paddling duo as they only had one portage to get through and were otherwise free to extend their lead in the water.

“The conditions were perfect and we thoroughly enjoyed it, taking all the risks and shooting everything we could to try and stay in the top 15,” he said.

They extended their mixed lead to almost 13 minutes and were comfortable heading into the final day, turning focus to the main leaderboard.

“We were right in it, dicing for 14th with two other teams until we got caught and spun out at one of the rapids. But that’s the Dusi for you.”

Alongside their mixed victory, they were also the first sub-veteran pair home and finished in an incredible 16th position with a time of 8:09.50.

“It was such a pleasure to race with Pippa and we’re really happy with the result. The next focus is a shot at Olympic qualification next month and then the World Championships later in the year,” said Hank

Fifteen-year-old Keegan Vogt was the next fastest North Coaster, finishing 20th overall with partner Greg Palframan in 8:21.09. They were also the top U18 pairing this year.

Bryce Lawson from the Dolphin Coast Paddlers (DCP) was close behind and finished 21st overall with Simon Chubb in 8:31.01.

“I’m really happy with how it went overall. It’s my eighth Dusi and 33rd was previously my best finish,” said Lawson.

“The conditions were pretty good except for day one when the heat really played a big role and we had to conserve our energy. Otherwise the water was at a solid level and we had a good run all the way without too many difficulties.”

Bruce Brauteseth was the fastest solo DCP finisher at 10:07.05, which was good for the 6th best K1 and 69th overall.

DCP’s Greg Cackett finished just behind with partner Charles Ferrow in 10:07.11.

Bevan Manson (11:54.29 with Rick Diesel), Marco Magni and Chris Allan (12:21.56), Norman Hind (13:03.12 with Oliver Hind), Donald Voysey and Lionel Foster (13:47.10) and Gordon Shaw (14:36.42 with Sheldon Baxter) were the other DCP finishers.

At the top end of the field Birkett claimed his 14th Dusi win, this time partnering with Fenn, which leaves him one short of the ‘Dusi King’ Graeme Pope-Ellis who claimed 15. Abby Solms and Jessica Behn took the women’s honours in 8:33.02.

Find the full list of results at dusi.co.za/results.

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