Reigning Prescient Freedom Paddle champion, Hank McGregor, will be looking to make it three in a row,
and a second successive title for his young partner, Josh Fenn, when they paddle the 27km course around
Robben Island on Freedom Day, 27th April.
Fresh from his clean sweep of singles and doubles titles at the Fenn SA Surfski Champs held in Durban
recently, McGregor stood firm with his Prescient Freedom Paddle partner Fenn to ensure the talented
youngster from East London earned a first national doubles ski title in the S2 category.
The duo of Hamish Lovemore and Bevan Manson finished as deserved runners-up at the Fenn SA Surfski
Champs and there will be no love lost come Freedom Day, when the Prescient Freedom Paddle gets
underway at the Oceana Power Boat Club.
Lovemore and McGregor have partnered before and were successful in claiming the K2 title at the SA
Marathon Championships last October, but the former is a talented youngster who will be determined to
beat McGregor, who has 11 World Championship titles to his name.
The Cape Duo of Kenny Rice and Uli Hart will not allow the KZN led charge to dominate their premier surf
ski event and will be fully committed to the win from the start. Rice has had the honour of beating
McGregor in the Cape Point Challenge and believes he has what it takes to topple him. Hart is a
powerhouse of strength which will complement Rice’s skill and tactical knowledge in the local conditions.
The women’s race will be a different affair with race favourites, KwaZulu-Natal duo Jenna Ward and Saskia
Hockly, looking to lead the ladies’ field from start to finish as they did with relative ease in 2020.
The defending champions’ first Prescient Freedom Paddle title was their inaugural trip around Robben
Island and although the dynamic duo was apprehensive at the start, this young up-and-coming team held
their nerve to deservedly claim top honours.
The powerhouse youngster, Hockly, was in fine form herself at the Fenn SA Surfski Champs in Durban
earlier this month, where she claimed the S2 national title with the highly experienced and decorated
paddler, Michelle Burn, along with the S1 SA Junior Title. She is rapidly building a paddling CV of distinction
in a very short career thus far.
This all adds up to a race which will be a spectacle for not only friends, family and followers of the sport but
all spectators in general.
The race continues to go from strength to strength and attracts some of the finest surfski competitors, who
have won multiple world championship titles, and is one of the largest and unique surfski races in South
Africa, incorporating SUP (Stand-Up Paddle boards), prone paddlers and rowing sculls.
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