K2 racing drama brings down curtain at world champs
While the senior team did not bring home any medals, the South African Masters canoe marathon team brought home 15 medals.
A FINAL day dogged by drama and disappointment for Team South Africa in the senior K2 races brought down the curtain on the 2019 ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Shaoxing.
The day started with the women’s K2 race and the crews of Bridgitte Hartley and Durban North resident, Christie Mackenzie and La Lucia’s Kyeta Purchase and Mount Edgecombe’s Jenna Ward both started strongly in a race dominated by the Hungarian and Spanish crews.
Ward and Purchase were in the front bunch for much of the race and were unable to keep up with the intensity in the closing stages. They fell off the lead bunch and joined Hartley and Mackenzie in the chasing pack.
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Hartley and Mackenzie were sharper on the vital last portage and finished fourth, while Ward and Purchase ended in sixth place.
On Saturday, in the women’s K1 race both South African challengers Ward and Hartley started strongly. Ward managed to stay comfortably in the top 10 until a strong four-boat breakaway took control of the front of the race.
Ward ended up ninth in her first senior world championships outing, while Hartley, who battled throughout, did not complete the race.
While the senior team did not bring home any medals, the South African Masters canoe marathon team brought home 15 medals (five K2 and 10 K1) in Masters Cup that preceded the start of the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Shaoxing.
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