{"id":1525,"date":"2015-10-09T16:45:36","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T16:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/?p=1525"},"modified":"2015-10-10T05:25:54","modified_gmt":"2015-10-10T05:25:54","slug":"louw-birkett-in-control-after-sa-k2-champs-opener-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/?p=1525","title":{"rendered":"Louw & Birkett in control after SA K2 Champs opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hometown hero Greg Louw is in pole position to win the 2015 Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon after he and partner Andy Birkett banked a two and a half minute lead during Friday\u2019s opening stage from Grassridge Dam to below Knutsford while Abby Solms and Anna Ko\u017e\u00ed\u0161kov\u00e1 are well primed to retain their women\u2019s title after their comfortable stage victory.\"2015D1Start\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The pair of Louw and Birkett overcame a powerful men\u2019s field to secure themselves the overnight lead heading into Saturday\u2019s second and final stage of the event that doubles as the 2015 South African K2 Championships, the ideal present for birthday boy Birkett.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere isn’t too much to gain from the first stage but if you can gain a bit here and there it goes a long way to hurting the other guys a little bit,\u201d explained Louw (Knysna Racing). \u201cI think we were trying to capitalise on any mistakes that the other guys made and when Andy put on the after burners I just made sure I kept the stroke rate going!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI really just wanted to have fun out there today and to pull off the win on stage one is great; I’m really stoked!\u201d added Birkett (Euro Steel).<\/p>\n

The pair surged to the front of the talented pack from the get-go with only defending champ Hank McGregor (Jeep Team\/Kayak Centre) and his silver medal Marathon World Champs partner Jasper Mock\u00e9 (Mock\u00e9 Paddling) able to match the blistering early pace.<\/p>\n

Having both only jetted in from the Surfski World Champs in Taihiti only Wednesday, McGregor and Mock\u00e9 eventually ran out of steam shortly after the Katkop Weir portage, giving Louw and Birkett the opportunity to break free that they had been hoping for.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were going along nicely until Katkop and then I went through a bad patch for ten minutes or so where the jetlag and the past couple of weeks just seemed to catch up to me,\u201d said McGregor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHats off to Greg and Andy, they paddled really well today,\u201d added Mock\u00e9. \u201cIts not over yet though; with leading the Fish comes a bit of pressure too so we\u2019ll just have to see what happens tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a slow start Brandon van der Walt and Stu Maclaren enjoyed a stormer of a second half of the stage to finish on the bottom step of the day\u2019s podium, narrowly edging out ADreach\u2019s Len Jenkins and Siseko Ntondini while Czech crew Jakub Adam and Michael Odvarko rounded out the top five after a brief swim at Soutpans Rapid.<\/p>\n

The battle for the women\u2019s crown fast became a one boat affair as Solms and Ko\u017e\u00ed\u0161kov\u00e1 charged away from the chasers en route to securing a near nine minute overnight lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t think that we could have asked for a better race today!\u201d said Adie (Kayak Centre). \u201cAbsolutely everything worked and went according to plan and Anna’s strength in the back was something else!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be amazing if we could win tomorrow; I would put that on the same level as my Marathon World Champs gold medal a couple of weeks ago,\u201d added Ko\u017e\u00ed\u0161kov\u00e1, Adam\u2019s twin sister.<\/p>\n

Sprint sensation Bridgitte Hartley and surfski star Michelle Burn caught many of the talented chase group unawares as they made light work of the testing obstacles as they claimed second place for the day.<\/p>\n

A brief swim at Soutpans had Hartley and Burn anxiously checking over their shoulder however little did they know the trouble their chasers Jenna Ward and Kyeta Purchase were also having just metres further up the very same rapid.<\/p>\n

Regular swims eventually reduced Ward and Purchase to fourth after junior crew Cana Peek and Donna Hutton \u2013 the only top women\u2019s crew to shoot the infamous Keith\u2019s Rapid \u2013 charged through into third place.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s second and final stage takes place from below Knutsford to Cradock Sports Complex. More information can be found at www.fishmarathon.org.za<\/a><\/p>\n

SUMMARY OF RESULTS – HANSA FISH RIVER CANOE MARATHON
\nSTAGE 1 (GRASSRIDGE DAM – KNUTSFORD)
\n<\/b>
\nOverall
\n1.Greg Louw\/Andy Birkett 2:43.28
\n2.Hank McGregor\/Jasper Mock\u00e9 2:46.02
\n3.Brandon van der Walt\/Stuart Maclaren 2:50.09
\n4.Len Jenkins\/Siseko Ntondini 2:50.10
\n5.Jakub Adam (CZE)\/Michael Odvarko (CZE) 2:51.08
\n6.Murray Starr\/Louis Hattingh (U23) 2:52.01
\n7.Benjamin Bradford\/Owen Gandar 2:55.12
\n8.Alan Houston\/Andrew Houston 2:55.42
\n9.Gavin Shuter\/Dave Hamilton-Brown 2:55.43
\n10.Brent Chiazzari\/Trenton Lamble 2:55.43
\n11.Tom Schilperoort\/Dawid Mock\u00e9 2:57.04
\n12.Gene Prato\/Bryan Leroux 2:58.09
\n13.Thulani Mbanjwa\/Nhlanhla Cele 2:58.10
\n14.Jean van der Westhuyzen\/Mark Keeling (U18) 2:59.24
\n15.Phineas Zulu\/Alex Roberts 2:59.25
\n16.Lucas Mthalane\/Luke Stowman 3:00.19
\n17.Brandon Orpwood\/Jarryd Gibson (U18) 3:00.53
\n18.Abby Solms\/Anna Ko\u017e\u00ed\u0161kov\u00e1 (1st Women) 3:00.56
\n19.Sbonelo Khwela\/Banetse Nkhoesa 3:00.17
\n20.Heinrich Schloms\/Gavin White 3:02.19<\/p>\n

Women
\n1.Abby Solms\/Anna Ko\u017e\u00ed\u0161kov\u00e1 3:00.56
\n2.Bridgitte Hartley\/Michelle Burn 3:09.46
\n3.Cana Peek\/Donna Hutton (U18) 3:13.30
\n4.Jenna Ward\/Kyeta Purchase (U23) 3:18.42
\n5.Alex adie\/Nikki Mock\u00e9 3:20.01
\n6.Jordan Peek\/Natasha Bulbring 3:26.34
\n7.Marion Young\/Kim Peek 3:27.52
\n8.Bianca Haw\/Tamika Haw (U23) 3:32.21
\n9.Bianca Beavitt\/Robyn Henderson 3:33.34
\n10.Kirstin Scott\/Chloe Bunnett 3:33.35<\/p>\n

U23 Men
\n1. Murray Starr\/Louis Hattingh 2:52.01
\n2.Alan Houston\/Andrew Houston 2:55.42
\n3.Gene Prato\/Bryan Leroux 2:58.09<\/p>\n

U23 Women
\n1.Jenna Ward\/Kyeta Purchase 3:18.42
\n2.Bianca Haw\/Tamika Haw 3:32.21<\/p>\n

Junior Boys
\n1.Jean van der Westhuyzen\/Mark Keeling 2:59.24
\n2.Brandon Orpwood\/Jarryd Gibson 3:00.53
\n3.Mpilo Zondi\/Siyanda Gwamanda 3:02.47<\/p>\n

Junior Girls
\n1.Cana Peek\/Donna Hutton 3:13.30<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hometown hero Greg Louw is in pole position to win the 2015 Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon after he and partner Andy Birkett banked a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/LouwBirkettSLIDER-150x50.jpg",150,50,true],"full":["https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/LouwBirkettSLIDER.jpg",1050,350,false]},"categories_names":{"2":{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/?cat=2"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1525"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1539,"href":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525\/revisions\/1539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fishmarathon.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}