Pretorius wins Molokai Challenge
22 May 2006
Durban ski paddler Clint Pretorius hit the global headlines by winning the gruelling Molokai Challenge, beating eleven-time champion Oscar Chalupsky to the title after a thrilling dice to the finish line.
The 21-year-old finished the tough 55-kilometre crossing from Molokai to Oahu just one minute short of the race record after racing for three-and-a-half-hours in near perfect downwind paddling conditions.
Pretorius, who is affectionately known as "Laaitie" to his friends, finished third in the Perth Ski World Cup in 2005, signalling his arrival on the international stage. The Molokai Challenge is regarded as the toughest ski race in the world in many quarters of the ski paddling fraternity.
1992 Olympic gold medallist Clint Robinson finished third, 30 seconds behind Team Kia Maxe paddler Chalupsky, with another Australian Dean Gardiner, a nine-time winner of the race, finishing fourth, a further eight minutes back.
The thirtieth
edition of the famous race attracted a strong field of top ski paddlers, with the rematch of the rivalry between Chalupsky and Gardiner, the two paddlers who have dominated the race in the last two decades, attracting much attention.
However, it was Pretorius who stole the limelight when he went out fast with Chalupsky and Gardiner, and then held off Chalupsky in the race to the line at Koko Marina on Oahu after three hours and twenty five minutes of racing across the notoriously tricky currents and swells of the Molokai Channel.
Kenny Collins, the third member of the Team Kia Maxe, also finished well to secure a ninth-place overall.
Chalupsky won his eleventh Molokai title last year after a thrilling showdown with Australian sprinter Nathan Baggaley, and Gardiner.
Source: Canoeing South Africa
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