Dawid Mocke wins the Défis Kayak at Guadeloupe

The Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, French territory, held last week the Surfski World Series race of Défis Kayak EDF. Not many contestants, around 50, but with a very high international level, coming from all around the world.

With a paradise landscape as background, the paddlers took the start at Île Desirade, where they had to complete two laps in a course inside the lagoon (new this year, as it seemed  that Desirade inhabitants were quite unhappy with seeing the kayaks going away straight to the horizon) and then go to open sea heading Saint François, at the main island of Guadeloupe.



From the very beginning, Dawid Mocke took the lead, as he was looking for a good wave he identified in the early morning as a nice one to take some advantage. He succeeded at it and after the two laps, went out to open sea already on his own, managing to make a solo paddle right to the finish line.
But Dawid Mocke himself explained that it was not that easy. The wind came down a lot during the morning and the weather became hotter and hotter. So, for riding the wash he described the paddle as a “crayfish leg”: that means too much effort for not so much reward. Nevertheless, situation was similar for his prosecutors.

After almost two hours, Dawid reached the finish line claiming victory in 1h52'06", second place went to Australian Cory Hill (1h55'30") and French Benoît Le Roux (1h56'55") was third, being the only three paddlers below the two hours of race. 

Special mention to the fourth place of Bill Bain, Australian Junior who already surprised the international panorama last year by winning the Singapour World Marathon Championships and this austral summer has won everything at the Asutralian and Oceania Championships U18, paddling the 1.000 metres in times that allow thinking of him as one of the big ones in a few years. His versatility and good results in every discipline point that way, thorugh good luck and wise planification. We will see.

At this link you can check the full results of the Défis Kayak EDF.