Internationals challenge for Fish titles
2 October 2008
A buzz of anticipation surrounds the 27th Hansa Powerade Fish River Canoe Marathon that gets under way at Grassridge Dam on Friday, 3 October, as a massive field from around the world gathers for the start of the most competitive edition yet of the famous two-day race.
Both the men's and the women's titles could fall to international crews, despite the attentions of the cream of the local domestic K2 combinations and the entries of a number of the stars of the SA Marathon champs team that recently returned from the World Championships in the Czech Republic.
The new world marathon champions Ant Stott and Cam Schoeman will be on the startline, and while they are talking down their chances as they come off the peak that won them the World Champs gold medals, their awesome running on the portages and their deadly sprint speed, combined with their insatiable self-belief and hunger for success, will make them a tough crew to beat.
Record books
Another of the medallists at the World Championships is also poised to rewrite the race's record books should Johannesburg junior Grant Van Der Walt manage to win the race with Hank McGregor, making him the first junior to ever win the race overall.
Both paddlers are in top form, with McGregor having just returned from winning the US National Surf Ski title in San Francisco, while Van Der Walt won the silver medal in the junior boys' race at the World Marathon champs, narrowly missing out on defending the World junior title that he won the year before.
Add to this mix the top crews of Piers Cruikshanks and Michael Mbanjwa, the classy Cradock locals Ryan and Greg Louw, and top Cape speedsters Ernest van Riet and Heinrich Schloms, and the competition for the top ten places will be ferocious.
German combination
However, all eyes will be on the German combination of Max Hoff and Stephan Stiefenhoefer. They finished second in the last K2 championship race in 2006, and had the race been 500 metres longer they would have overhauled the flagging crew of Hank McGregor and Len Jenkins.
Hoff has just come off a starring role for Germany in the Beijing Olympic Games, where he finished fifth in the 1 000m K1 final, and is determined to use his potent combination with his coach Stiefenhoefer to improve on their 2006 showing.
Both are now seasoned Fish campaigners, and will be fuelled by sentiment as this may well be the last competitive river marathon outing for this highly successful combination that has established itself as the best there is in the European Ardeche, Krumlov and Terradieforte marathons.
Czech crew
While the Germans are expecting a real scrap throughout the 82 kilometres of the marathon, the women’s crew of Michala Mruzkova and Katerina Vacikova from the Czech Republic will start as out-and-out favourites to retain the title they won in devastating style in 2006.
They raced away to break the women's race record, despite a swim at Cradock Weir in the final few kilometres of the race, handing out a merciless lesson on K2 river racing to the other top local women's crews.
The local challenge this year will be a lot stronger than in 2006 and the Czech women will have to subdue the classy Olympians Carol Joyce and Jen Hodson, fresh from their impressive win in the Canon Breede SA K2 champs. Abbey Miedema and Michéle Eray, runners up in 2006, will also be in the hunt and the classy pairing of youngsters Robyn Kime and Abie Adie will bear watching.
Open competition
Also in the mix is the crew of Cape star Alexa Cole and Richards Bay Olympian Bridgitte Hartley. Cole stirred up debate in domestic canoeing circles by opting to enter in the open class in the recent Canon Breede Marathon with her partner Donia Kamstra, effectively shunning the restrictions that govern competitive female marathon racing in South Africa. However they will not have to worry about any shortage of competition from within the women's ranks in this year's Hansa Powerade Fish.
The race is also catering for the unique K3 (three-seater) canoes for the first time, creating another slice of canoeing history as these novel kayaks, which were invented in South Africa, are now well enough supported to warrant their own class and prizes.
Around 1 600 athletes have entered the tough race that starts with a 46-kilometre leg on Friday morning and ends in Cradock after a more forgiving 36-kilometre final stage that includes three demanding weirs in the final 10 kilometres.
Olympians
In among the rest of the paddlers are Olympic star Shaun Rubenstein, paddling socially with his friend Justin Bark, and Olympic slalom paddlers Cameron McIntosh, Cyprian Ngidi and Master Cele.
With around 5 000 visitors expected to descend on Cradock to enjoy the traditional Karoo hospitality that has become a hallmark of the event, the local economy will reap the benefits of the event's popularity.
The weather is expected to get progressively colder over the weekend, with night time temperatures plummeting to below zero on Sunday, which is sure to fuel sales of blankets for the many hundreds of campers that will be packed into the campsite at the Cradock Spa.
The weekend will also include an Afrikaans music festival at the Cradock Sports Grounds on the Friday night and a rock concert at the same venue on Saturday evening that serves at the official event after-party.
The local organising committee, under chair Louis Copeman, has also rolled out a range of new activities for paddlers and their families, including hot-air ballooning trips on the first day, helicopter flips, and river rafting through some of the race's major rapids.
Source: Canoeing South Africa
