Len Jenkins Jr. remains unbeaten at Fish River Marathon after his 6th K1 title. Michele Eray takes her first in Women.

The Natal Canoe Club paddler, Len Jenkins Jr., claimed this weekend his sixth consecutive K1 title at the Fish River Marathon, held at Cradock (Eastern Cape, South Africa), getting that way the SA K1 title. At the same time, Michele Eray  keeps getting titles this season 2012 and claimed victory in the Senior Women category with a good superiority on her rivals.

The 1,416 paddlers who took the start crossed Grassridge Dam facing a long first stage for 47 km. down to Knutsford. Two and a half kilometres further, they portaged the dam wall and strated paddling the river itself.

Jenkins and McGregor entering Keith's Flyover, with Grant van der Walt 50 metres behind. Foto: Jetline Action Photo

From the first strokes, Len Jenkins took the lead with a wide group following his wash, up to twenty paddlers with Jacques Theron and Hank McGregor at Jenkins' first wash. But the portage was not wide enough for so many people, so it made a first selection. Theron lost the good pace and Brandon van der Walt joined a three paddlers group on the lead along with McGregor and Jenkins. Just 5 minutes later, shooting Double Trouble at Collet's Weir, Jenkins got trapped facing upstream at the second jump and lost some precious seconds. He had then to make an extra effort to overpass Greg Louw, Lance Kime and Cam Schoeman to arrive at feared Keith's Flyover rapid leading the race again.