Varsity College Marine Surfski Series: race 6

Last Friday, at Durban Bay, race 6 of the Varsity College Marine Surfski Series was held after the break for the Dusi Unlimited the week before. This time, the sea conditions were rough with strong wind and waves that were a true obstacle for many competitors just to make a proper start into the water, that's why the contestants were not so many in the end. Victory was for Hank McGregor, who comfortably left behind the Nisbet Brothers (doubles) and Matthew Bouman, probably the only one who could put in trouble McGregor's overall victory in the series.

Photo: ©Anthony Grote

 You can check the full results at this link.

Results of Winter Regional Championships in Spain

Photo: Donostia Kayak

We already talked last Sunday about the 5.000 metres Championships in Galicia (Spain), but many other were held this weekend and also will be held some more next Saturday and Sunday as a qualification for the National Championships to be competed in Seville in two weeks and a half.

Times in these regional races maybe cannot be taken as a reference, because of the very different courses and conditions, but we have already seen some interesting performances and people pointing very high to be in the national top ten, beware that in Seville will show up the main group of the National Sprint Team, now preparing the first 200 m. trial to decide who will go for London 2012 qualification in Poznan next May.

Here we let you some links to the results so far:
Castilla-La Mancha (winner: Héctor Cubelos)
Galicia (winner: Iván Alonso)
Extremadura (winner: Julio Moreno)
Gipuzkoa (winner: Xabier Ruiz de Aretxabaleta)
Palencia (winner: Jorge Alonso)

Iván Alonso, Tania Fernández and David Cal, winners of the 5.000 metres at Galicia

Yesterday was held at Verducido (Galicia, Spain) the winter 5.000 metres Championship in that region, with some of the first line paddlers of Spain competing.

Photo: deportedevigo.com

Senior K1 victory was for Iván Alonso, 5th last season at the Marathon World Champs in Singapore. He repeated victory for the second year in a row beating his two teammates (Kayak Tudense) Diego Piña and Víctor Javier Rodríguez. But this last one was given a two minutes penalty in the start, falling down to 19th position, being finally bronze medalist Miguel Fernández Castañón, from Fluvial O Barco.

In ladies senior, the promising Tania Fernández, from Fluvial de Lugo, claimed victory winnig ina  closed sprint another two Kayak Tudense members, Ana Varela and Carla Pérez.

In the C1, the great olympic Spanish hope for London 2012, David Cal (Club Ría de Aldán), beated the marathon specialist Tono Campos in a closed race, leaving behind the third position for Ángel Cristian Rivademar, from Club Breogán.

At this link you can check the full results for seniors, juniors and U16. And at this one, the veterans results.

Bizkaia's Winter Championship 2012

Today we upload the results of the Bizkaia's Winter Championship 2012, held last sunday over 5.000 metres. Victory for Felipe Besada, from Pamplona, who competed as a guest, being Bizkaia's champion Jorge van Horenbeke.

You can check the full pdf file at this link.

Third race of Cape Town Downwind Series

Photo: Cape Town Sport Photography

The third race of the Cape Town Downwind Paddle Series was held last Saturday at Cape Town area (RSA), from Miller's Point to the usual finish line at Fish Hoek beach, with a total course of 12 kilometres.

Conditions were reported to be very mild in the morning, so the scheduled start at 14:00 wasn't clearly going to be kept, but the South East wind finally appeared and got to the point of risking the competition, with a speed of 50 km/h.