McGregor, Lombard snare awards
7 February 2006
In the lead up to the Stihl Non Stop Dusi, Canoeing South Africa presented its annual Grand Prix awards in Durban, with all four recipients having started the season with victories in the Hansa Powerade Dusi.
Hank McGregor, who over the weekend claimed the Non Stop Dusi title in a K1 boat, won the senior men's Grand Prix for a second time, having won four of the sixteen events that make up the annual Grand Prix Schedule.
The competition is designed to identify and recognise the country's best marathoners by awarding points for their performance across the calendar year, with the five best performances counting towards the final total.
Started 2005 with a bang
McGregor started 2005 with a bang, winning the Dusi, before taking the Isuzu Berg, Men's Health/New Balance Breede and Land Rover 50 Miler titles. The 2003 world marathon champion has set his sights on winning every major title on offer on the domestic
calendar, of which only the Hansa Powerade Fish, Drak Challenge and Umkomaas titles have eluded him.
McGregor's start to the 2006 year, and the new Grand Prix, resulted in a win in the Dusi with "Dusi Duke" Martin Dreyer, which was mirrored by the female Grand Prix champion, Alexa Lombard, whose formidable coalition with Abbey Miedema produced a record-shattering Dusi triumph.
Lombard's 2005 year was crowned by a stunning showing in the World Marathon Championships in Perth in September, when she and her Cape clubmate Donia Kamstra raced to the silver medal. During the year she took top honours in The Drak Challenge, Berg, Breede, Vaal and Fifty Miler marathons, to go with her back-to-back wins in the K1 and K2 flatwater marathon championships in midyear.
Three years in succession
The 25-five-year-old teacher from Fish Hoek has now won the Grand Prix title three years in succession, the first time that this feat has ever been achieved
by a female paddler.
In the junior sections, the 2005 Grand Prix titles went to consistent performers Stephen Bird and Kelly Howe.
Bird, now a matric pupil at Michaelhouse, notched up a solid top 10 finish in the Junior World Marathon Championships in Australia, to add to his wins in the Drak Challenge and Fish marathons. He is also blossoming as a sprint paddler and represented South Africa’s flourishing junior sprint squad abroad.
Kelly Howe emerged victorious at the end of a highly competitive year for female juniors, following an impressive K1 Dusi win in January, and a string of victories with her partner Tiffany Kruger from Amanzimtoti. The pair went on to sound their arrival on the global stage by racing to a stunning fourth place in the Junior World Championships K2 race.
Source: Canoeing South Africa
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