King holds lead in Berg

LANCE King held the overall lead in the Berg River Canoe Marathon after the third day, despite coming fourth and missing the top spot by two seconds.

Day three took the participants across a 74.8km stretch from Bridgetown to Zoutkloof in the 52nd marathon yesterday.

Ben Brown won the third stage in 05:22:45, despite the fact that former winner Graeme Solomon (second) finished in the same time.

Ivan Kruger took third place with a time of 05:22:46, and King finished one second behind to claim the fourth spot.

King still leads the overall standings with a time of 12:58:22. Solomon follows in 12:59:52, and Kruger rounds off the top three in 13:10:53.

In the women’s race, Jenna Ward claimed the number-one spot with a time of 06:14:13 yesterday. Kirsten Penderis took second place in 06:21:04, followed by Joritha Prins in 06:40:55.

This means that the women’s overall standings remain the same, with Ward in first place with a time of 15:22:16, closely followed by Penderis in second and Prins in third.

Ward overtook Penderis as race leader after the second stage and will look to hold on for the final stage today. Participants will complete the final stage from Zoutkloof to Velddrif, travelling 58.7km, to end the 220km marathon.