Sean Rice brings home victory at Camps Bay, sixth race of the Vodacom Cape Town Surfski Series

Last Sunday it was held a classic Spring surfski race in Cape Town, the Natural Camps Bay Clash, on the Atlantic side of the city.

The field was rather strong. After coming back from Hong Kong, the big stars attempt to fine tune their form for the big upcoming event of the Cape Point Challenge. This time, Jasper Mocke and Sean Rice had a nice neck to neck race, while Dawid Mocke and Brandon van der Walt fell back from the lead on a course with little wind and quite bumpy. Under these conditions, the physical strength of Sean Rice was finally decisive, opening in the last stretch a gap wide enough to enter the finish line alone and to be the only paddler under 50 minutes. Behind him, Jasper and Dawid Mocke completed the podium.

Brandon van der Walt, fourth overall, was the winner U21 (age division of the races), followed by Dom Notten and Craig Flanagan. In junior, victory for Kenny Rice, while Graeme Solomon won the veterans category and was fifth overall. Look in the video at his surfski, developed by Carbonology Sport in collaboration with Graeme's company in Cape Town, Bamboo Warehouse. Indeed, it is built in carbon and bamboo, giving it that classic (and classy) wooden aspect and weighing only 11.5 kg. Beautiful prototype. We do not know if it will continue to be produced, since its maintenance must be very careful, as it was always with wooden kayaks, but the truth is that we love it.

In women, victory for Nikki Mocke, with a big gap over Bianca Beavitt, second, and the junior Kirsten Flanagan, third, who entered sprinting to decide the two remaining podium positions.

You can check the results at this link and see the always colorful race video below ( by the way, it goes an Olympic champion , see if you find it):

McGregor wins the Steelcase Dragon Run in Hong Kong over a great field

Although at this point in the week we still have no official results or pictures photos of the race (at least we haven't found them), we have been able to gather some information about one of the surfski races with more caché of the season, the Steelcase Dragon Run in Hong Kong.

With most of the best discipline paddlers, the 24 kilometer race had three very different phases. A first in which all the favorites, mainly Australians and South Africans, formed a compact group heading the first turn, with the wind coming from the left. A big bunch of paddlers seeking protection aside of the opponents of the always uncomfortable side waves.

Tomas Slovak and Cyrille Carré win the Ardèche Marathon in France. Kiko Vega takes the singles title.

The moments before the start. Photo: Canoë-Kayak Magazine

After the cancellation due to flood conditions in 2012, it was held last Saturday a new edition of the International Marathon of Ardeche, in the French region of Rhône-Alpes , on a medium-low water level, which was no obstacle for a great show.

1,472 paddlers gathered under a fine sunny day that made the delight of competitors and spectators. Among the favorites, big names in the international scene, with all sights set on the current world champion and Olympic medalist in K1 1000m Max Hoff, who returned to his first discipline (river descent) with his teammate Tobias Bong. Having already won the Ardèche three times with Stiefenhofer , he tried again this time commanding a K2 that...

Vodacom Cape Town Surfski Series: Big names on the podium

As summer season comes slowly to Cape Town, the canoeing scene turns its gaze to the ocean. The Lifesavers Club of Fish Hoek is responsible for organizing the Cape Town surfski series, sponsored by Vodacom, with races almost every two weeks in different spots around the area in both the Atlantic and Indic side. These races are a good prelude to the big event coming at the end of December, the Cape Point Challenge. Gradually, the best surfski paddlers will test themselves and the opponents getting ready for the big event .

In this occasion, the fourth race of the series (Seaforth Restaurant prix) was a nice fight between world champion Sean Rice, Dawid Mocke and Tom Schilperoort, but after the turn, in the downwind section (perfect conditions for it, in the video you can clearly see the great scenario with winds of about 25 knots), Rice showed his quality and claimed the win. Mocke and Schilperoort followed him in that order. 4th and 5th ​​were two young values as Kenny Rice and Craig Flanagan..

In women, very young participation, with victory for Kim van Gysen followed by Bianca Haw and Kirsten Flanagan, three names to keep in mind in the future of this discipline.