VLC FLAT RACE – SUNDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2016
A cold wind gusted across Gauteng on Saturday night through into the morning bringing extremely unpleasant and chilly choppy conditions, forcing a few paddlers to withdraw from the race, from as early as the first lap, so it was just as well that the NSRI was on hand to assist with rescues especially since the Gauteng Canoe School League races took place after the main event.
This pre Fish 24 km race provided excellent stamina training and certainly prepared paddlers for the rough conditions that from time to time can be found on the Grasmere dam at the Fish start as many will remember!
The K1 race winning bunch consisted of Sieko Ntondini who won the event (SCARC) in a time of 2 hours as first Under 23, followed by Wayne Jacobs, (Dabs), first Sub Veteran 2 seconds later, with Phineas Zulu (SCARC) dropping off the bunch in the last lap to finish in 2 hours 3 minutes. He assures me he was well and truly ragged for that but was grateful that he hadnt bailed out of the race at all!
The first K2 from SCARC included Tom Ngcobo and Sipho Qoko in a time of 2 hours 9 minutes, and the third place K1 finisher who also fell of the leading bunch before the finish was Alex Roberts (Dabs) in 2 hours 13.
The first K3 from VLC finished in 2 hours 15 with Richard Cele, Joshua Loots and Renier Kruger , while Liam Stewart was the Under 18 K1 winner in a time of 2 hours 15 (ERK).
The Mixed double Sub Master top finishers were Anna Clifford Arwidi with Nigel Harvey (DABS) in 2 hours 16 minutes while the K1 Sub Master finisher was Brian Langton (VIC) in a time of 2 hours 44 minutes.
The Sub Grand Master top finishers were also in a K3, finishing in a time of 2 hours 25 minutes bringing in Timothy Baker, Zach Zacharopoulos and Noel Bessler from VLC, while Collen Gibbs (VIC) finished as the first Veteran K1 in 2 hours 29.
The first Master to cross the finish line was Wayne and Karen Saunders in a time of 2 hours 33 minutes.
Superb training in highly resistant conditions – well done to all who finished and thanks to VLC for providing the opportunity for the great training!
Regards
Jennie Dallas
for GCU PR
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