North Coast paddlers powered to six medals at the Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships in Spain last weekend, propelling South Africa to overall victory in the medal standings.

Salt Rock’s multiple world champion Hank McGregor, Umdloti’s Saskia Hockly and the Salt Rock family of Vern, Pene and Keegan Vogt all won medals at the competition. The weekend’s racing took place over a 20km ocean course between Villajoyosa and El Campello.

On Friday, McGregor and Keegan faced off against a strong international field of more than 500 paddlers in the men’s singles category. McGregor rolled back the years to finish fourth in a time of 1:15:08, while Keegan finished 15th in 1:17:26. McGregor won gold in the men’s 45-49 age group, while Keegan claimed silver in the men’s junior (U18) division.

Hockly finished ninth in the women’s singles race against a field of more than 150 paddlers in a time of 1:26:12, earning her a silver medal in the U23 category.

The following morning, four of the five local paddlers were in action in the open mixed pairs race, which included 118 teams.

McGregor and East London’s Jade Wilson finished second overall in a time of 1:07:19, followed by Keegan and Cape Town’s Hanna Solomon in 22nd place, with the husband-and-wife pair of Vern and Pene finishing in the middle of the pack.

Keegan and Solomon’s performance earned them gold in the mixed junior (U18) division, while Vern and Pene took silver in the mixed 90-99 category. The 90-99 division refers to the combined age of the two paddlers.

The North Coast paddlers contributed six of South Africa’s 21 medals, with the national team finishing top of the medal standings ahead of hosts Spain and Australia.

Full results are available at memosoft.spotfokus.com.