Sunny, humid weather greeted beachgoers at the fifth annual Vodacom Easter Adrenaline Extreme-Sports Beach Festival held at North Beach, Bay Lawns, Bay Beach and the Skate Park on Friday.
The Vodacom Paddle Challenge was one of the highlights as top men and women battled it out for a total prize pool of R17 000, which will be split over three days of racing.
”Day one of the event was absolutely fantastic; we had entries from top surfers like Mike Varikas, who has apparently been training hard at some of the Durban Surf sessions. The Vodacom Paddle Challenge also drew entries from lifesavers, bodyboarders and top swimmers,” commented event organiser Brandon Ribbink.
In the men’s event, seasoned surfer Mike Varikas looked poised for a podium finish in the first race, but it was 2006 board-paddle champion Donald Brierly (Glenwood) who dominated to take first in a nail-biting finish.
In the dying minutes of the race, 2006 South African Surf Swim Champion Blane Wood (Durban) caught a wave that saw him almost pip Brierly to the winner’s post. City of Durban lifeguard Sihle Xaba (Lamontville) came in third.
In the women’s race, Kendal Artz (Westville), the Durban Surf Lifesaving Club national team captain, took top honours ahead of Nicci Zeidler (Durban) with last year’s champion Madz Nixon (Durban North) placing third.
A challenging course was set where competitors on surfboards of any length paddled out from North Beach around the pier on to the shore at Dairy before turning back out to sea and rounding the pier a second time to finish back at North Beach.
”The remaining two days are sure to see some gruelling racing from competitors across the field, with Ryan Butcher and last year’s female winner, Madz Nixon, keen to get back on top,” commented former world lifesaving champion Ribbink.
The format for Saturday’s race is a 1km paddle-board race building up to Sunday’s testing 5km paddle. — Sapa