Belgian Olympian paddler Laurens Pannecoucke won this weekends marathon race at Gent (Belgium) under heavy weather conditions, with strong wind, snow and around 0ºC degrees.
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| Not the best weather for a paddle at Gent... Photo: Olaf Heijne |
The senior race, of 26 km., was leaded from the vey start by a group of four paddlers, including Pannecoucke, Bram Brandjes (NED), Joep van Bakel (NED) and Florian Wölke (GER), who were in a compact paddle for most of the race. But at the fifth portage, Pannecoucke and van Bakel pushed hard and went on their own for the last 8 km. There, no surprise with the victory of Pannecoucke, showing his sprint skills over a superb van Bakel. Three minutes later, Brandjes was also beating Wölke in the fight for third position on the podium. More than 6 minutes from the first paddlers began to arrive a larger group also well known marathon paddlers as Jonas Saelens, Erik Verduyckt or Tom Cremers, not having their best day under the extreme conditions.
In the Women's race, victory for Hermien Peters (BEL), who ended in a sprint final with her junior teammate Karolien Plas, winner in her category. And a well known family name winning too at the Men Junior race, with comfortable victory of Dries Broekx (BEL) with more than three minutes over the second position, which went to James Russel (GBR)
Something similar for the Masters, over 18 km., where Olaf Heijne (NED) took control of the race along with Dirk de Visscher (BEL), claiming Heijne the final victory at the sprint by just one second, finishing in a very good time of 1h41'59".
You can check the results at
this link.
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