MOUNT Edgecombe’s Jenna Ward won the U23 women’s title in the ICF Ocean Racing World Championships in Tahiti, rounding off an excellent showing by the team South Africa surfski women, filling three positions in the top twelve overall and two of the top four U23s.

Ward was a factor in the overall women’s race throughout, racing in excellent downwind conditions, which was eventually won by New Zealander, Teneale Hatton, with Ward narrowly missing a senior medal and the third place on the podium to another Kiwi, Rachel Clarke.

An elated Ward, who is a double bronze medallist in the world marathon champions, said that her U23 race had been secondary to her overall challenge.

“I wanted to race the senior girls from the start,” she said, “that is what kept me going, and to get the U23 title is just an added bonus.”

Fellow Durban MacSquad training partner and uMhlanga resident, Hayley Arthur, was seventh overall and the fifth senior women, with Daynie Loots also racing into the seniors top ten.

Our Lady of Fatima pupil, Kyeta Purchase’s fourth place in the U23 race, which also placed her as the first junior, is even more remarkable as she is recovering from an emergency appendectomy after bursting her appendix while at the world marathon championships in Hungary two weeks ago.

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