FRIDAY, 10.30AM:
MICHAEL CHEESMAN on Thursday increased his overall lead by 5 min 22 sec, in the second stage of the KWV Berg river marathon. Cheesman finished second and pre-race favourite Graham Bird won the second stage. Bird, who finished ninth in the first round on Wednesday, clocked in 3:08:51 to Cheeman’s 3:08:52.
Donnie Malherbe of Western Province moved up to second place overall after finishing third together with Gauteng’s Graham Monteith. Third overall is Paul Marais of Western Province.
Bird and Cheesman took the left channel about 50m from the bridge and got caught on some rocks, while Malherbe and Monteith took the right channel to avoid the rapids. “My canoe was stuck for a couple of seconds but I did not panic. I managed to rock the canoe over the rocks and then cruised home,” said Cheesman after the race.
Meanwhile, in the ladies section, Jean Wilson, of Western Province leads and Antjie Malherbe is second, after they finished at a time of 3:29:57, and 3:33:33 respectively.