McGregor gliding down the water to No 10

BRIDGETOWN: South African paddling legend Hank McGregor continued his march towards a record tenth Berg River Canoe Marathon title on Thursday when he outlasted the rest of the field during the tough second stage from Zonquasdrift to Bridgetown.

Overnight women’s leader Bianca Beavitt further extended her massive lead in the women’s race.

Paddling the same stretch of river that was covered during Wednesday’s revised first stage, some may have expected things to be a little easier the second time around. However, it wasn’t to be for McGregor as he went from start to finish alone.

“It was quite hard starting on my own today and never quite knowing just how hard I was needing to go,” explained the Jeep Team/Kayak Centre athlete. “To pace yourself for four hours when you’re on your own is quite a daunting task.”

“I decided to go out quite hard and try to open up a bit of a buffer on the rest of the guys but the first time split I got was at Train Bridge – close to two hours and forty five minutes into the day – so it was pretty tough,” he added.

Today’s racing sees paddlers bank whatever time advantage they may have notched up over the previous two days and start in batches once more, affording race leader McGregor the opportunity to sit back and mark the moves of his opponents without having to dictate proceedings much himself.

In the women’s race Beavitt was once again in a league of her own as she extended her half-an-hour overnight lead to go into Friday’s third stage with a fifty-five minute buffer over Robyn Henderson and stage two mover Jane Swarbreck.

Not even a second swim in as many days dented the Century City/Pink Lady paddler’s dominance of the women’s clash.

“I’m glad just to have survived!” laughed a relieved Beavitt afterwards.

“It wasn’t too bad overall even though I did have one swim – three hundred metres down from the place where I swam yesterday!”