Birkett and notten clinch nail-biting fish canoe marathon victory
Nicholas Notten and Andy Birkett have been crowned the new South African K-2 canoe champions.
Notten and Birkett (4:43.42) who won the first lap from Grassridge dam to Knutsford bridge within seconds on Friday, October 8 kept up their good work to become the overall winners after completing the second day’s race from Knutsford to Cradock seconds ahead of Jasper Mocke and Cyril Carrao (4:44,16) who came third. Hamish Lovemore and Hank McGregor (4:49,05) had to concede Friday’s second place to finish third on the last lap.
In the ladies section, Christie McKenzie and Bridgitte Hartley (5:17,43) looked as if they had already booked the championship on Friday, while Jenny Nisbett and Saskia Hockly (5:20,20) stuck to their second place and Jordan Peak and Pippa McGregor (5:38,00) to the third place they achieved.
In the section for girls u/18 the championship went to Jessice Behn and Rachel van Deventer (6:37,07), followed by Laila Maher and Amy Hulett (6:42,11) with Lizanne Conradie and Sarah Jones (6:51,52) In the third place. The girls finished in the same positions that they did on Friday.
In the boys u/18 section the championship went to Jack Edmund and Matthew Millway (4:55,29) who came 8th overall on Friday and improved so much that they came 6th overall. Jordan Fenn and Luke Swinney (5;12,24) finished in second place with Joshua Simpkins and Matthew Coetzer (5:16,37) in third place.
In line with COVID-19 regulations, there was no open prize giving this year and medals and certificates were handed out at the Standard Cricket Club.