Cape Town’s Notten toughs it out to claim silver at World Champs

PIETERMARITZBURG: South Africa emerged from the second day of racing at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships on Friday with two more medals, including a silver for Cape Town’s Nick Notten, but there was also plenty of cruel heartbreak for the hosts at Camps Drift in Pietermaritzburg.

At the end of the day, the Hungarians had increased their lead in the medal tables with another almost near-perfect day of racing, but the story of the day was the cruel luck which befell the hosts.

At least one certain South African medal sunk into the muddy waters of Camps Drift, and there was potentially a second as well.

First in the K2 junior men’s event when a broken rudder cost Callam Davis and Hamish Lovemore a certain medal as they were racing in a lead group of three when the disaster occurred.

And then in the final event, the U23 men’s race, Michaelhouse schoolboy Jean van der Westhuizen, a big hope for a medal, was in the front group midway through the first lap when a clash of boats ended with him swimming.

On Thursday Caitlin Mackenzie was also knocked out of her boat at the start of the junior girls’ event.

In the men’s U23 race, Argentinian Franco Balboa paddled a tactically perfect race to break the dominance of the potent Hungarian outfit with Notten finishing second – but his tactics did not meet the approval of everybody in the stands.

Notten had made a brave long-range bid for gold with two of the seven laps remaining, and at the end of the fourth portage, found himself with a gap over the large lead group and he paddled away to a narrow but vital lead.

It took a lap for anybody to come close to the Cape Town paddler when, after the penultimate portage, Balboa made use of a quick run and put in to chase the South African down over the next 500 metres. Once he caught his rival, the Argentinian did the minimum work over the next three kilometres.

Then, making full use of his fresher arms, he sprinted away powerfully over the final 300 metres for the gold.

The Hungarians were once again the heroes in the junior men’s K2 event, but it was happiness with the cruellest of heartbreak for one of the two South African crews.

The Hungarian pair of Levente Vékássy and Varga Ádám claimed the gold when they easily beat local under 16s David Evans and Hamish Mackenzie – students at Maritzburg College which is situated just 200m away from the race venue.

In the end Spain’s Carlos Gómez and Miguel Sánchez took bronze, but they will be the first to admit their third place was the result of a massive stroke of good fortune.

With about 1 500m to go, the race was a contest between the Hungarians, Evans and Mackenzie, and the second South African crew of Kearsney’s Davis and Lovemore from Hilton College. With a huge lead over the chase group it was just the colour of medals to be decided – until, in a cruel twist of fate, Davis’ and Lovemore’s rudder evidently “simply fell out”, and the chasing group only passed the rudderless South Africans with about 350m to go.

More information can be found at www.canoesa.org.za

Nick Notten