HANK McGregor and Grant van der Walt underscored their status as the premier big water canoeing crew in the country with a fourth victory in the Stihl Umkomaas Canoe marathon.

The victory was the fifth time that McGregor, the reigning world K1 marathon champion, has taken the crown, four of them with his friend and training partner and Durban North resident, Van Der Walt.

The duo started the 32km final stage from Hella Hella to Josephine’s bridge locked in a three boat tussle with Cam Schoeman and Czech Republic star Jakub Adam, and Dusi champ and world Under 23 champ Andy Birkett and former Umko champ Jacques Theron.

McGregor and Van Der Walt managed to squeeze ahead in the tough approaches to Number One rapid, and emerged safely from Number One with a twenty second lead.

“We put the hurt in early in the approaches to the big Number One rapid,” said McGregor. “It seemed to work because we had a sixty or seventy metre gap after Number One and we managed to keep on stretching it. We had a faultless day.”

Van Der Walt said that they were surprised by their early lead going into the Gorge, featuring the notorious rapids simply numbered Number One to Number Eight, but said they had to capitalise on their unexpected early advantage.

“In big water it is really hard to catch guys, so we realised that we had to make it count,” said Van Der Walt. “We tried to take the gap and hold it and fortunately we were able to opened it.”

He added that his combination with McGregor had once again managed to click on the day and set themselves apart from the rest of the strong field on the tricky 1,5m medium to full Umkomaas River.

“Their is a special feel that we have in this combination that I really don’t think the other crews have,” said Van Der Walt. “Its partly down to plenty of years together but we also know how to read each other and anticipate what to do in the big rapids.”

Former world champ Cam Schoeman and his Czech republic partner Jakub Adam came storming back from a bad swim at the nasty rapid Number Five & Six to reclaim second place from Andy Birkett and Jacques Theron in a thrilling endsprint.

Don Wewege and Len Jenkins were fourth with junior Dusi champ Damon Stamp teaming up with Carl Folscher to round out the top five.

Hilary Bruss and Jen Theron raced away with the women’s title, finishing three minutes clear of the first mixed doubles crew of husband-and-wife Marc and Debbie Germiquet.

The Junior and Under 23 title fell to Michaelhouse schoolboys Brandon Macleod and Alan Houston, with junior runner-up Brandon Orpwood of Maritzburg College claiming the overall k1 prize.

Umko legend Charlie Mason completed his 47th consecutive Umkomaas Canoe Marathon.

Results men
1.Hank McGregor/Grant van der Walt 3:42:50.15
2.Cam Schoeman/Jakub Adam 3:45:06.85
3.Jacques Theron/Andy Birkett 3:45:07.52
4.Don Wewege/Len Jenkins 3:55:54.79
5.Damon Stamp/Carl Folscher 3:55:55.71

Results women
1.Hilary Bruss/Jen Theron 4:09:29.90
2.Di Reitz/Patricia Stannard 5:15:09.18
3.Lorna Holmes/Renita Dennison 6:26:16.33