An icy cold, rainy and windy start greeted the paddlers as they set off from Zonquasdrift on the second day of the 2014 Berg River Canoe Marathon on Thursday and in the end, it was KwaZulu-Natal visitor Andy Birkett who crossed the line first and claimed the leader’s yellow bib while Abby Adie produced another stellar performance to retain her women’s race lead ahead of stage three’s 75km slog.
With a group of four having started the day together, Jasper Mocké (Kayak Centre) fell off the back of the group after getting stuck in a tree block in the second half of the stage and was unable to claw his way back to the lead trio.
This opened the door for Birkett, day one leader Graeme Solomon and Simon van Gysen to open up a two minute gap over the surfski ace and for Birkett to eventually outsprint his two fellow rivals in the dying meters of the clash.
Although Birkett takes a seven second lead into the third day of the Berg River Canoe Marathon, the EuroSteel star is all too aware that there is still a lot of racing ahead of the paddlers.
"It is still a very close race! I just won the end sprint today but there is still over 100km of racing to go in this year’s Berg so there will be some exciting, tough racing ahead,” he said.
Mocké claimed the bridge prize on the first day of the race but it was Birkett who took the R5000 hotspot prize on the second day and was happy with being able to win it after missing out on day one.
"I was quite disappointed that I messed up the bridge prize yesterday so I tried to prove a point today and I was stoked to get the hotspot.
I’m mainly happy about still being in contact with the guys at the end of the day too though!”
Understanding the river has already played an important role amongst the front bunch but for a Birkett, who is unfamiliar with the river, he is glad that he is with a couple of guys that understand the Berg River and have helped him over the first few days.
"This is a race where you do have to have local knowledge and if I wasn't racing with those other guys and using their knowledge I would be way further back in the field, so I am grateful that I have got some nice guys that I am racing with and are looking after me and not just pushing me into wrong channels,” he commented appreciatively.
It was another strong day for Western Cape veteran Graeme Solomon who powered his way to back-to-back podium places however after relinquishing the leader’s bib, the Bamboo Warehouse paddler explained that he was a bit disappointed by his race on the second day.
"I wanted to use a couple of my sneaks to get a bit of an advantage over the guys but they were marking me so well today and knew that I know the river quite well and they didn’t let me make any moves.
"I would have preferred to put a bit more pressure on the guys going through some of the trickier spots but they knew to watch me,” Solomon added.
An interesting race continues to unfold further down the men’s field after a strong charge by AQRate’s Louw van Riet brought him right back into the mix and once again has ignited his duel with current fifth place holder Edgar Boehm Jnr for the final gold medal position.
The two were in a very similar position in 2013 with van Riet eventually pipping Boehm by a handful of seconds to claim his first ever Berg gold and with just two minutes separating them after two stages of the 2014 clash, Boehm has his work cut-out for him over the next two days of racing.
“I’ve never won a gold medal at the Berg before and Louw (van Riet) just beat me to it by eight or so seconds last year. He’s now about two minutes behind me and it’s definitely a little too close for my liking!” smiled Boehm afterwards.
“I got my first gold last year, Edgar wants his this year but man, so do I!” chuckled van Riet.
It was a tough day on the river for Build it’s Thulani Mbanjwa who fell off Boehm wave at Trein Bridge while two rare swims by EuroSteel/Computershare Change a Life Academy’s Sbonelo Kwela, formerly known as Sbonelo ‘Eric’ Zondi’, saw him drop from tenth overnight to seventeenth after stage two.
Overnight leader Abby Adie continued her complete domination of the women’s race during Thursday’s second stage and is now well on her way to her maiden Berg River Canoe Marathon victory bar any major mishaps on the final two days.
Setting off in elapsed time – in the same sequence she and the other first half an hour of paddlers finished in on day one - enabled Adie to ‘ride the wave’ fellow competitors should she be in a position to, an advantage all of her chasers who started in A batch, would enjoy immediately.
The Best 4 Healthcare/Kayak Centre talent endured the first 20km on her own though before finally finding some company.
“I’m just so relieved to finally be here!” said a cold and tired Adie after arriving at stage two’s finish at Bridgetown. “I haven’t had such a tough day on the river in a long, long time!”
“There was a really nasty headwind, it was pretty cold out there on the water and I was on my own for a really long way which took quite a lot out of me,” she added.
Despite her stage two struggles Adie has not only maintained her overnight lead, but extended it immensely to over twenty minutes and now enjoys a monumental buffer going into Friday’s longest stage of the four day race.
“There is still a long way to go and lots can still happen but the gap is pretty big which is really pleasing and now I’ll just look to try play things as safe as possible and stay out of trouble, especially tomorrow.”
Adie’s twin sister Alex was the second across the line on the day however a determined effort in the closing stages saw Bianca Beavitt hold onto her second place overall, albeit with a minute less of a gap than she enjoyed at the end of stage one.
“It was a bit of a day of back and forth between Bianca and I, she got ahead first and then got stuck in the trees a bit and I came through. She then got onto a good bunch shortly after Gouda Bridge and caught me and then I managed to get ahead again a little later,” explained Adie.
“I made a slight mistake in the second half of the stage which cost me a bit but I worked really hard towards the end and I’m really happy I seem to have minimized the amount of time Alex was able to take out of my lead,” added Beavitt.
2013 women’s runner-up Kirsten Penderis (AQRate) reeled in the fast-starting Lauren Felgate (MacSquad) to retain her fourth place overall while Felgate, finishing a few minutes later with Robyn Henderson, rounds out the top five once more at the end of stage two.
Stage three sees paddlers tackle the 75km from Bridgetown to Zoutkloof on Friday 18 July. More information can be found at www.berg.org.za
SUMMARY OF RESULTS – BERG RIVER CANOE MARATHON
STAGE TWO (ZONQUASDRIFT - BRIDGETOWN)
Overall
1. Andy Birkett 3:18.21 7:25.15
2. Graeme Solomon 3:18.29 7:25.22
3. Simon van Gysen 3:18.27 7:25.23
4. Jasper Mocké 3:20.30 7:27.25
5. Edgar Boehm Jnr 3:23.20 7:37.44
6. Louw Van Riet 3:22.31 7:39.44
7. Lee McGregor 3:27.30 7:41.58
8. Lance Kime (U23) 3:23.20 7:46.02
9. Thulani Mbanjwa 3:28.33 7:42.59
10. Luke Stowman (U23) 3:23.20 7:46.02
11. Lance King 3:23.08 7:46.04
12. Heinrich Schloms 3:27.36 7:50.04
13. Paul Marais 3:35.34 7:57.55
14. Clinton Cook (U23) 3:54.59 8:00.47
15. Dominic Notten (U23) 3:55.00 8:00.48
16. Craig Flanagan (U23) 3:35.09 8:00.59
17. Sbonelo Kwhela 3:44.48 8:02.49
18. Travis Wilson (U23) 3:35.09 8:06.16
19. Tyler Wilson (U23) 3:34.57 8:06.16
20. Irvin Dixon 3:36.58 8:07.42
Women
1. Abby Adie 3:37.15 8:11.35
2. Bianca Beavitt 3:49.28 8:31.37
3. Alex Adie 3:48.11 8:36.01
4. Kirsten Penderis 4:05.51 9:06.17
5. Lauren Felgate 4:09.27 9:09.54
U23 Men
1. Lance Kime 3:23.20 7:46.02
2. Luke Stowman 3:23.20 7:46.02
3. Clinton Cook 3:54.59 8:00.47
4. Dominic Notten 3:55.00 8:00.48
5. Craig Flanagan 3:35.09 8:00.59
Junior Boys
1. Siyanda Gwamanda 3:46.58 8:29.02
2. Mthobisi Cele 3:51.02 8:30.52
3. Jabulani Gwamanda 3:59.48
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