Hungary’s Boros makes Marathon history
SOUTH AFRICAN woman paddler Bianca Beavitt clinched her third consecutive title at the Berg River Canoe Marathon while, in the men’s race, Hungarian champion Adrian Boros made history by becoming the first international star to win the four-day event.
The ladies race was marked by the performance of Century City/Pink Lady’s Beavitt who was in the lead in front of Kirsten Penderis and Robyn Henderson from the start in Paarl last Wednesday until the finish on Saturday.
Along with her third consecutive Berg River Canoe Marathon title, Beavitt was awarded her 12th consecutive stage win.
“I don’t think the win has quite sunk in yet, but it is always glorious to get to the end. If you had asked me if I would do one Berg five years ago I would have said ‘never’.
“But I am here; I don’t think I have learned my lesson.” she said.
The famous four-day race was critically affected by the current water shortages and was confirmed to be the lowest-level Berg River Canoe Marathon since 1973.
The competitors had to contend with shallow water, making the 240km of the chase difficult for all the paddlers.
In the men’s category, the Hungarian champion Boros became the first international star to win the four-day marathon.
Making the most of a 3-minute, 20 second advantage in the final stage, Boros won an enthralling end-sprint win over South African paddler Graeme Solomon to claim the overall victory.
“When Solomon made that one mistake on the second day, I was able to capitalise and I managed to keep that advantage all the way to the end,” said Boros.
The European star also took advantage of his opponent’s weight that made Solomon less powerful in shallow water.
Although Solomon’s persistence paid off with a secondplace finish, the paddler remained positive:
“I finished fifth in the last two Bergs so I thought my podium days might be over, but it’s great to be sharing the podium with guys like Adrian and Petr,” said the 44 year-old paddler.
“I feel good that I was able to compete with guys that are nearly half my age!”, he added.
The Czech Petr Mojžíšek ended up third on the podium.
Taking third in the Under23 age category was Mpilo Zondi after four days of solid paddling. The Under-18 age category was a one-sided affair with the young Mvelo Ngidi finishing 10th overall.