SWELLENDAM – After the opening stage of the AJM Breede Canoe Marathon belonged to the Mocke brothers on Saturday, it was the turn of the Fenn siblings to celebrate on Sunday. Matt Fenn and partner Greg Louw claimed victory overall while older brother Josh Fenn and Wayne Jacobs recorded the fastest stage on Day 2, but just could not oust Dawid and Jasper Mocke from the second spot on the podium.
“We set off in elapsed time on Day 2, so we started with the Mocke brothers and it was just the two of us all day,” said Matt Fenn shortly after the finish on Sunday. “There was a chase group that started closing the gap, but very slowly, so it was more a case of keeping them in mind, but not really being too threatened by them.”
“So it was just us and the Mockes … one boat would get dropped in a rapid and have to catch up, and then the roles would swap. That happened throughout the day. Then with roughly three kays to go we went down a channel and got to a tree block just before them.
“When we put in, we had maybe 70 or 80 metres. Just after that we came to another fork and we went left and they went right and we didn’t see them again.”
“I think they were just taking a chance by doing something different, and it it didn’t pay off, so a bit of luck involved for us,” added Fenn modestly.
The final margin of victory was just over a minute, with Fenn and Jacobs closing to just 22 seconds behind the Mocke brothers in third, after a storming day saw them record the fastest time by more than two minutes after finishing sixth on Day 1.
In the mixed doubles race, World Surfski Champion Kira Bester and Dyllan Farrell extended their lead on the second day to wrap up a convincing victory against a strong field.
The Cape Town duo ended up 18 minutes ahead of Bester’s regular doubles partner, Melanie van Niekerk, and Scheepers Schoeman, with Neriyah Dill and Daniel Buys dropping back to third overall.
Tayla Isaac and Rachel van Deventer ended up as convincing winners of the women’s category, despite being beaten on Day 2. Bianca Beavitt and Tamsin Lovelock recorded the fastest time on Sunday, but had left themselves way to much to do after Day 1, and Isaac and Van Deventer ended up winning by more than 12 minutes overall.
While the Mocke brothers were disappointed to let their narrow Day 1 lead slip away, there was some celebration for the family as Dawid’s son, Sam, and Matt Coetzer cruised home to claim the victory, and along with it the WP junior title for 2025.
While the action was fierce up front, history was being made further back in the field.
JT Basson, a six-time former race winner and one of South Africa’s canoeing’s dominant forces in the 1970s and 80s, completed the race with Gerhard Beukes. It was his 39th AJM Breede Canoe Marathon finish and meant he takes sole ownership of the record for most finishers – one more than Giel van Deventer and Andre¨ Collins.
Among the women’s finishers was Lisa Scott, who finished her 16th Breede to become the woman with the most finishes, one more than Jean Wilson.
Leading Results
OVERALL
Position Names (Day 1, Day 2) Total time
1 Greg Louw & Matt Fenn (2:31:44, 2:20:18) 4:52:03
2 Jasper Mocke & Dawid Mocke (2:31:43, 2:21:27) 4:53:11
3 Wayne Jacobs & Josh Fenn (2:35:32, 2:18:01) 4:53:33
4 Mike Arthur & Riccardo Televi (2:34:34, 2:21:15) 4:55:50
5 Ron Benjano & Dominic Notten (2:34:35, 2:24:18) 4:58:54
MIXED
1 Dyllan Farrell & Kira Bester (2:45:24, 2:28:28) 5:13:53
2 Scheepers Schoeman & Melanie van Niekerk (2:53:08, 2:38:50) 5:31:58
3 Neriyah Dill & Daniel Buys (2:50:49, 2:41:59) 5:32:49
WOMEN
1 Tayla Isaac & Rachel van Deventer (3:15:29, 3:06:24) 6:21:54
2 Biance Beavitt & Tamsin Lovelock (3:31:17, 3:03:05) 6:34:22
3 Bronwen Jillings & Tarryn Dietrich (4:10:50, 4:12:41) 8:23:31
JUNIORS
1 Matt Coetzer & Sam Mocke (2:43:04, 2:29:55) 5:12:59
