Ant Stott and Sven Bruss walked away with the spoils at the end of a thrilling five-boat charge for the line in the Vaal Challenge canoe marathon that ended on Sunday.
At the end of 75km and two days of breakneck racing, the title was decided in the technical channels on the Vaal River just above the finish at Smilin’ Thru resort, where the KwaZulu-Natal duo edged ahead of overnight leaders Jacques Theron and Piers Cruikshanks to claim victory.
Hank McGregor and his young KwaZulu-Natal teammate Marc Holtzhausen were third, just ahead of veteran marathoner Graham Bird and Stu Rawlinson, with defending champions Len Jenkins and Michael Mbanjwa fifth, just 11 seconds behind the winners.
”It was the most competitive race of the year,” said Stott afterwards. ”It is always difficult when there are more than four boats on the front bunch, but all the crews at the front were so classy that none of them was going to be shaken off.”
Theron and Cruikshanks were leading going into the last rapid with a few hundred metres to go to the finish. However, Stott and Bruss were able to stage a perfectly timed charge to edge past them.
”Sven [Bruss] and I combined really well in our first major race together,” said Stott. ”He is incredibly strong in the boat.”
The victory is Stott’s fifth win in the Vaal Challenge, each of them with a different partner, following previous wins with Martin Dreyer, Jacques Theron, Ken Jenkins and Kelby Murray.
Stott, who is a key member of the men’s K4 sprint crew who are committed to trying to qualify a boat for South Africa at the Beijing Olympics, confirmed that the Vaal Challenge will be his last river race before returning to pure sprint training for the crucial Olympic qualifying season.
In the women’s race, Cape stars Alexa Lombard and Donia Kamstra paced their race to perfection, and raced away to win by four minutes from Michelle Eray and Nikki Mocke, and claim the women’s purse, which is equal to the first men’s prize money.
Jo’burg teenage star Grant van der Walt and his ‘Maritzburg College partner Cam Schoeman rounded of a superb weekend to take the junior title with an overall seventh place, and clocked the third-fastest time on the final stage.
The jubilation in the Van der Walt camp was heightened by the junior silver medal going to Brandon van der Walt, who is an under-14 athlete, and his under-16 partner Clinton Cook.
”Dusi Duke” Martin Dreyer enjoyed a solid race, winning the mixed doubles with Jeanette Walder, finishing in 16th place overall. — Sapa