CAPE TOWN – Nic Notten led home a Peninsula Canoe Club 1-2-3 to claim the South African SS1 Ocean Racing Championship title in flat conditions in False Bay on Friday.
In a case of total home-course dominance, Notten and Kira Bester emerged from the event as the new men’s and women’s South African Champions in the race from Simon’s Town to Fish Hoek in benign surf conditions and fog.
Notten finished 18 seconds ahead of clubmate, doubles partner and fellow former World Champion Kenny Rice, with defending SA champion Uli Hart ending third, 37 seconds further back. Hank McGregor claimed fourth as the only paddler in the top 15 from outside the Fish Hoek and Peninsula clubs, with Mark Keeling rounding out the top five.
The women’s race was also a triumph for Peninsula, with Bester making great use of the swells on the run in to the finish to power away to a convincing three-minute victory over Eastern Cape’s Jade Wilson, while Georgia Singe, Nix Birkett and Saskia Hockly completed the top five.
The paddlers are now preparing for round two of the national championship weekend with Sunday’s Prescient Freedom Paddle doubling as the SS2 Championships.
The annual 27km race around Robben Island on Freedom Day has grown into one of the country’s major paddling events and this weekend’s race takes on extra significance by being named as the doubles championship event.
With four wins in five years, the McGregor and Josh Fenn crew are favourites to notch a hat-trick of wins and cement their place as the top surfski doubles combination in the country. For the pair it is something of a double defence as they are also the reigning SS2 Champions after a sprint victory in flat conditions in Durban last year.
However, as Friday’s result proved, the long-time partnership may not have everything their own way this year with the crew most likely to unseat the champions the top two paddlers from Friday’s race, Notten and Rice. The Peninsula pair were back-to-back World Canoe Ocean Racing Champions in 2021 and 2022 in Spain and Portugal respectively, and clearly know how to win races.
Another crew which could feature on the podium is that of Mark Keeling and Ron Benjano, but the top level of the podium may just be a step too far for them.
In the women’s event, defending national champions Bester and Melanie Van Niekerk will always be the crew to beat, but with flat conditions expected, Hockly and Pippa Mcgregor or Jenna Nisbet and Birkett are likely to be in contention.
Sunday’s mixed doubles race looks like a chance for Hart and Singe to give South African fans a chance to see a World Championship Mixed Doubles combination in action. The Prescient Freedom Paddle is part of their training to defend the world title they won last year.
Sunday’s race around Robben Island will start at 9.30am from the Oceana power Boat Club.
Friday’s Results
Men
1 Nicholas Notten 1:27:21
2 Kenneth Rice 1:27:39
3 Ulvard Hart 1:28:16
4 Hank Mcgregor 1:28:48
5 Mark Keeling 1:29:06
6 Jared Shrimpton 1:29:37
7 Dawid Mocke 1:30:10
8 Matthew Coetzer 1:30:38
9 Ron Benjano 1:30:53
10 Cody Stallard 1:31:01
Women
1 Kira Bester 1:38:26
2 Jade Wilson 1:41:12
3 Georgia Singe 1:43:12
4 Nix Birkett 1:43:14
5 Saskia Hockly 1:43:50
6 Melanie Van Niekerk 1:44:40
7 Holly Shirley Smith 1:45:06
8 Jenna Nisbet 1:45:35
9 Pippa Mcgregor 1:47:13
10 Stephanie Von Der Heyde 1:48:51
