Swellendam — Hank McGregor and Uli Hart gave themselves a perfect final preparation for the World Marathon Championships later this month when they wrapped up victory in the Breede River Marathon on Sunday.
While the pair were working hard to see off the challenge of Clint Cook and Thomas Lovemore in the final sprint for the line on Sunday, the leading women’s crew of Melanie Van Niekerk and Kira Bester were adding to their overnight lead to end up convincing five-minute winners over Candice Starr and Stephanie Von Der Heyde.
McGregor and Hart will be paddling in K1s and together in a K2 at the World Championships in Croatia on September 19-22, so this weekend was all about testing their race fitness as a combination in the two-day race from Robertson to Swellendam – and they passed with flying colours.
“This weekend was a test for us as we prepared for Croatia,” said Hart on Sunday afternoon after they notched up their second stage win in two days. “We are really feeling good as a combination after the weekend where we managed things well all weekend.
“We had tripped the final section of the river so knew where we had to go into the channels first where it can get tricky, and then pulled for the last few kilometres and made sure we were ahead where we needed to be.
“It was cool to sit behind Hank and watch his tactical ability. We have paddled a lot together in the surf but not so much in the river so it was nice to see how he controlled things in the flowing water.”
Ron Benjano and Nic Notten finished third, losing a minute on Sunday to the leading crews, with Kenneth Rice and young Ryley Smith fourth, just over two minutes further back.
For Bester and Van Niekerk there was not much racing against their rivals on the second day as they started with a one-minute advantage and increased that lead by another four minutes in the 33km to Swellendam.
In a tight race for the mixed doubles title, Joanne Conradie and Jermaine Pietersen held on to beat Bianca Beavitt and Crispin Thompson by just 17 seconds.
Selected Leading Final Results
Pos, Name 1, Name 2, Total Time (Day 1 Time, Day 2 Time)
Men
1 Hank Mcgregor / Uli Hart 4:08:32 (2:08:26, 2:00:05)
2 Clinton Cook / Thomas Lovemore 4:08:33 (2:08:27, 2:00:05)
3 Ron Benjano / Nicholas Notten 4:09:36 (2:08:27, 2:01:08)
4 Kenneth Rice / Ryley Michael Smith 4:12:00 (2:09:58, 2:02:01)
5 Greg Louw / Heinrich Van Rooyen 4:12:39 (2:09:59, 2:02:39)
6 Paul Marais / Mark Keeling 4:13:13 (2:09:56, 2:03:16)
7 Murray Starr / Daniel Jacobs 4:13:47 (2:09:58, 2:03:49)
8 Ernest Van Riet / Heinrich Schloms 4:18:54 (2:11:41, 2:07:12)
9 Dyllan Farrell / Cody Stallard 4:26:12 (2:16:36, 2:09:35)
10 Robert Hart / Anders Hart 4:28:03 (2:19:21, 2:08:42)
Women
1 Melanie Van Niekerk / Kira Bester 4:34:13 (2:21:07, 2:13:05)
2 Candice Starr / Stephanie Von Der Heyde 4:39:13 (2:22:13, 2:17:00)
3 Christy Shrimpton 5:04:19 (2:34:43, 2:29:35)
4 Tayla Isaac / Rachel Van Deventer 5:07:34 (2:36:25, 2:31:08)
Mixed
1 Joanne Conradie / Jermaine Pietersen 4:48:41 (2:28:22, 2:20:18)
2 Bianca Beavitt / Crispin Thompson 4:48:58 (2:29:01, 2:19:57)
3 Luka Koumantarakis / Hannah Joa Theron 4:56:28 (2:30:44, 2:25:43)