South African canoeing shines in Germany
4 August 2015
South African canoeist and four-time K1 and K2 Dusi marathon winner Andy
Birkett won a silver medal at the season-opening ICF Marathon World Cup at the
Brandenburg an den Havel regatta in Germany on 2 August.
Following a three-boat battle for first place between Birkett, Hungarian Adam
Petro and Belgian Dries Corrijn, an unexpected wake from an official's boat helped
Petro gain the upper hand by a boat length over Birkett at the finish line. But the
South African was unperturbed, saying after the race: "I am chuffed with the
medal."
He added: "The pace was fast for the first hour-and-a-bit until we whittled it
down to four paddlers. Soon it came down to the Hungarian, the Belgian and myself
as we came into the last portage.
"I had a good last portage, and I pulled the last small lap into the finish line
with the Hungarian on my side wave, and got caught out in the end sprint by the
Hungarian.
"It was great racing, but
more importantly it was awesome practice before the
Worlds," he added.
His silver ends a good weekend in Germany for the South African team. Birkett
also won the new short marathon sprint event on Saturday, while teammates Greg
Louw finished fourth in the same race, and Olympic sprint medallist Bridgitte
Hartley won the women's race.
Birkett won the national senior K1 marathon title in June and is a former under-
23 marathon world champion. He was happy with his time and placing in
preparation for the Marathon World Champs in Gyor, Hungary in September, which
will include several other major races in Europe.
The reigning world champion is fellow South African Hank McGregor.
This year is Birkett's first participation in international competition and this first
podium finish has been an inspiring start for the canoeist. However, he admitted to
a bit of frustration during this first race, which he called "all a learning curve".
His next race is
the Sella Descent in Spain next week.
Source: News24Wire
