Monday, 27 September 2010 12:14
Mixed fortunes in Spain
It was a weekend of tight racing, joyful moments, and bitter disappointments for Team South Africa at the 2010 ICF World Canoe Marathon Championships in Banyoles, Spain.
Len Jenkins and Brandon van der Walt claimed a Bronze and a Silver medal for South Africa respectively, while Ant Stott and Graeme Solomon were hindered by boat admin, only imagined in a paddlers worst nightmare, and a scuffle with a Portuguese competitor saw Grant van der Walt’s medal hopes dashed.
The 2010 Regatta began on the Friday with the Junior and U/23 racing. In the Junior Boy’s race, Brandon van der Walt raced a tactically brilliant race to claim the silver medal, 4 seconds behind Laszlo Solti of Hungary.
In the U/23 race, Grant van der Walt, last year’s champion in this category appeared in control of the race, with the front bunch appearing to wait for him to make a move. At the final portage, van der Walt reached the reached the jetty on the inside of the Portuguese competitor, Fernando Pimenta. In the rush to get onto the portage from the jetty, Pimenta stood on van der Walt’s boat, causing him to swim and lose valuable time. The end sprint for the last podium position, came down to Pimenta and van der Walt, with Pimenta claiming the Bronze by 8 seconds.
Van der Walt made the decision not to appeal the tactics used saying; “That’s racing, and anything can happen in the heat of the moment”.
Saturday’s competition saw some superb racing in the in the Men’s and Ladies K1 categories. After a lapse of concentration on the portage, Michele Eray narrowly missed out on a medal by 4 seconds, with fellow South African, Bridgitte Hartley, finishing in 5th a further 34 seconds back. Fresh off the International sprint season, in which he has been focussing on the K1 5000m, Len Jenkins used his supreme fitness and portaging prowess gleaned from his strong river racing background, to race onto the podium and claim a Bronze for team South Africa.
A last minute pairing between Eray and Hartley for Sundays Senior Women’s K2 racing, saw another strong performance, with the combination losing out on a medal to the Norwegian crew by a mere 2 seconds.
The racing of the Mens Senior K2 on Sunday closed the competition, and was plagued with drama and boat admin for past Senior champion, Ant Stott, and his partner Graeme Solomon. A last minute change of boat as a result of steering issues, saw the race delayed so that Stott and Solomon could compete. Their misfortune didn’t end there, with a slipped rudder cable in their replacement boat forcing Solomon to hop out the boat to fix the problem. The pair then managed to race back into contention, until colliding with another boat at a portage and holing the boat. Although, at the back of the field, the pair continued determinedly and in the spirit of true sportsmanship, completed the race in 20th position.
Out of the 25 competing nations, Spain topped the leader board with, South Africa in fifth, one point behind Germany.
For the full results please visit www.banyoles.cat.
Marathons results
Junior Boy’s K1
2. Brandon van der Walt- 1:40.47
15. Gavin Shuter- 1:44.09
Junior Boy’s K2
9. Brandon van der Walt and Ivan Kruger - 1:34.00
25. Divieano Pieterson and Joseph Williams - 1:43.06
Junior Girl’s K1
11. Melanie van Niekerk - 1:33.17
18. Kerry Segal - 1:39.09
Junior Girls K2
10. Jenna Ward and Emma Horner - 1:27.12
U23 Men’s K1
4. Grant van der Walt - 1:57.04
15. Lance King - 2:00.56
U23 Ladies K1
12. Bianca Beavitt - 1:52.57
Senior Men’s K1
3. Len Jenkins - 2:13.58
Marc Holtzhausen, retired
Senior Men’s K2
14. Heinrich Schloms and Ernest van Riet - 2:12.55
20. Ant Stott and Graeme Solomon -2:16.05
Senior Ladies K1
4. Michele Eray - 2:07.51
5. Bridgitte Hartley - 2:08.25
Senior Ladies K2
4. Michele Eray and Bridgitte Hartley- 1:59.13
14. Lindi-May Harmsen and Abby Adie 2:07.16
Senior Men’s C1
11. OLSZEWSKI Radoslaw 2:26.3
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