22 January 2007

Ant Stott realised a lifelong dream when he won the Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon on Saturday, with a perfectly calculated final stage charge into Blue Lagoon in Durban, and in the process broke the overall race record by six minutes.

"It is awesome, awesome, just awesome," was Stott's reaction when he reached the finish. "I fooled myself into believing that it would be the same as winning the K2 title (which Stott has won with Kelby Murray and Martin Dreyer) but it is much sweeter to win the singles title."

'Unexpected'
He was also quick to attribute the win to the high standard of coaching that he, and runner-up Michael Mbanjwa, have been enjoying. "This win has come at a completely unexpected stage as I have been focusing on sprinting with the K4 team," Stott said. "I sincerely hope that the youngsters can see that our coaching is right on the button."

Reigning Dusi Queen Abbey Miedema shattered her own race record as she romped to an emphatic win over the game Laura Thompson, who finished 33 minutes behind the winner.

Miedema opted for the safety of the Burma Road portage, but never once tried to protect her lead, as she added a further 11 minutes to her advantage.

"Even the portage over Burma Road felt easier today," said Miedema. "The win is very special – somehow every Dusi win is special and quite different."

Burma Road
Stott started the final stage with a seven-minute lead over Michael Mbanjwa, who was always going to use his superior running skills to go over the gruelling Burma Road portage to try and reel in Stott, who paddled cautiously around Burma Road, and portaged the nasty Island Rapid that had smashed his kayak in last year's race.

He was thrilled to see that he was still in the lead after Burma Road, and then put in a Herculean charge to the finish in Durban, where he learnt that he had taken six minutes off Len Jenkins' 2001 overall race record.

Mbanjwa was a clear second and the fastest man on the final stage, as he took more than two minutes off the third stage record.

Battle for third
"Dusi Duke" Martin Dreyer started the final stage together with Len Jenkins in a hotly-contested dice for the last spot on the podium. Dreyer badly tore a tendon in his ankle running down the Burma Road portage, while Jenkins paddled around. But the tough G4 champ ignored the pain and raced into Blue Lagoon to take third-place, before being taken to hospital.

Jenkins was then caught by the charging Sven Bruss at Dogs Leg rapid, and the pair was locked in a thrilling dice to the line in front of a hysterical crowd on the bank of the river, which Bruss won after a prolonged struggle.

Defending champ Hank McGregor, who also opted to take on the energy-sapping run over Burma Road, ended up sixth.

Other categories
Nick Stubbs took the under-21 honours, while Maritzburg College's Andrew Birkett took the junior title with an overall twentieth-place finish. Fellow College pupil Stuart Waterworth was in top form as he broke Shaun Rubenstein's record for the final stage by two seconds.

Epworth school girl Robyn Kime made a mockery of the junior girls' race record, as she took an-hour-and-three-quarters off the previous best time, and 20 minutes off the old third stage record. She finished fourth in the overall women's race, and was pipped to the last place on the podium by Hillary Pitchford.

Stott attributed the massive number of new records to the good water releases, particularly on the second day, when the hefty releases from Nagle and Henley dams coincided with good overnight rains.

"The water levels have been outstanding this year and that is reflected in the times across the board," he said.

RESULTS

Men

	Ant Stott: One of South Africa's leading canoe marathon paddlers

	SA canoe sprinters eye Beijing SA man takes G4 Challenge Records galore at Dusi 2006 McGregor, Miedema take Dusi 2005 Three world-class canoe marathons

	Dusi Canoe Marathon  Canoeing South Africa

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