Paarl canoeing juniors steal the show
2011-09-01
AT the South African canoeing marathon championships held on the Shongweni Dam near Durban (13/14 August), the Western Province juniors, including Paarl paddlers, again stole the show. The race was held in difficult conditions of high wind and waves which caused problems for many competing in high performance sprint boats. Despite the conditions the Western Province achieved 11 gold medals out of a possible 17 in the junior categories (u.8 to u.18). Much of the credit must go to coaches Wayne August (Paarl) and Peter Cole (Peninsula). In the u.16 race Michael-Lee Farringer (Paarl) initially started behind in fourth position, but at the fourth portage passed Dugan Alfonso (Gauteng 3rd) and on the 5th portage passed Kenny Rice (Pen) opening up a 50 m gap. Kenny, however, mounted a determined counter-attack and closed the gap to within a boat length and the final position was Michael Lee Farringer gold and Kenny Rice two seconds behind for silver. Daniel Buys (Paarl) and Wilner de Swart (Gauteng) came 3rd in the K2 race. The u.14 race was also hotly contended. David Meiheizen (Paarl Bridge House) played a game of cat and mouse with Bradley Ruiters (Paarl). In the final lap Bradley sat firmly on slip and tried to outsprint David at the end. Convinced he had lost the sprint, David went to the prize-giving presuming second position only to be informed that after reviewing the photo finish the gold was awarded to him. Theo Moses (Paarl) and Bradley Ruiters won gold in the K2 race with David Meiheizen and Nhlonipo Shinga coming second. In the u.16 girls’ race Kirsten Flanagan (Pen) cruised in for a gold, 6 minutes ahead of her competition and in conjunction with Jodi Cleworth (Pen) not only won gold in u..16s, but beat the top girls’ u.18 boat in the process. Well done girls! The WP Guppies were even more dominant than the K1s. The u.8 and u.10 races were won by the brothers Pierre and Luc van der Westhuysen. With Pierre paddling so strongly he was presumed to be an u.10, confusing the results. Rebecca Meihuizen won gold for the u.10 girls and Justine Williams continued her winning streak with an u.12 gold. Justine has won a gold in every distance possible to race in her age group this year.
More
News
|
