uMdloti resident paddles to SA titles
Hamish Lovemore won the men’s 500m, 1000m and 5000m K1 races before winning the 500m K2 race with partner, the Eastern Cape’s Andy Birkett.
UMDLOTI resident Hamish Lovemore was the standout performer at the recent South African Sprint Canoeing Championships at Roodeplaat Dam.
Over three days of intense flatwater racing the 25-year-old won all four of his races.
Lovemore won the men’s 500m, 1000m and 5000m K1 races before winning the 500m K2 race with partner, the Eastern Cape’s Andy Birkett.
“I had a good competition and I was pleased with how it all played out. This was the first competition since the Olympics in Paris last year. I feel Andy and I sparked a bit of interest in sprint paddling in South Africa because there hasn’t been many sprinters in the past few years. This is the first year that we had three heats in the men’s senior category, which was amazing and we also had three heats in the ladies senior category which shows the growth in the sport,” he said.
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“South Africa has such a rich history in marathon paddling with athletes Hank McGregor and Andy Birkett, I’m a marathon guy myself, but we gave sprinting a go and it was a bit of success.”
Lovemore, who has been training at Dudley Pringle Dam in Ballito, has set his sights on four international races this year, including the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Hungary in May, and he hopes to make the World Games in China.
He also gave some insight into his Olympic debut last year.
“I think I surprised myself and some of the other paddlers. We placed fourth in the B Final of the K2 which was an amazing achievement. As soon as my time in Paris ended I was already setting my sights on the 2028 games in Los Angeles. Both Andy and I made sure we did everything we possibly could in Paris. We soaked it all in because you never know if you’ll have the honour of going again. It also contributed to my growth as an athlete and I saw it as a stepping stone to catapult me into other sprint events,” he said.
While his focus is on sprint racing this year, in January, Lovemore finished third in the men’s race at the N3TC Drak Challenge in the Southern Drakensberg.
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