Thursday, 13 May 2010 11:29
Huge prize money confirmed for Dunlop Surfski World Cup Durban
The massive field that has entered the Dunlop Surfski World Cup in Durban has started to gather in the city ahead of the ISPA World Series tour event on Sunday, with R120,000 in prizemoney confirmed for the event.
The Spanish and French teams jetted into Durban earlier this week, despite worries about the resurgent volcanic ash clouds interfering with their flights, while the top local racers, most of who feature prominently on the current men's and women's world series top ten rankings, have also started assembling in Durban, and tripping the likely northerly course.
With the men's winner set to bank a R40 000 purse, equating to well in excess of $4000, there is substantial interest from global pacesetters, including the reigning world series champion Dawid Mocke of Fish Hoek, Cape Town, and the winner of the World series pipe-opener EuroChallenge in Spain earlier this month.
The Durban event has been a global benchmark for international surfski races for several years. Often held in big downwind conditions, and over a 30 kilometre course that is longer than most international surfski races, the event has a reputation for rewarding fit endurance paddlers well schooled in the art of deep ocean surfski paddling.
Initially run by surfski.info founder Rob Mousley, the fledgling world series rapidly expanded and accumulated events with substantial dollar-based prize pools, the International Surfski Paddling Association (ISPA) was founded in 2009 and has regulated the world tour into eight events annually, including the Dunlop Surfski World Cup Durban.
Attracting well over 250 paddlers and being home to a significant number of the global pacesetters in the sport, the South African leg of the ISPA is a significant event sure to deliver highly competitive racing.
This is despite the overlap with the Molokai Challenge crossing in Hawaii, which is held on the same day as the Dunlop Surfski World Cup and has secured entries from a number of elite Australia and Kiwi racers, in part because of the shorter travelling distances to Hawaii.
"The usual July date for the Durban event was not possible in 2010 because of the FIFA Soccer World Cup," said race convener Billy Harker. "It left us with very little option but to hold the race earlier, and if we could have, we would have avoided the overlap with the Molokai."
"The 2011 calendar will see the schedule return to normal, which we are looking forward to," he added. The Dunlop Surfski World Cup Durban takes place on Sunday 16 May over a distance on 32 kilometres.
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