Birkett, Graham on pole
Leaders of the pack primed to put in one final surge to retain Dusi crown
HE Andrew BirkettJason Graham paddling machine went into overdrive during yesterday’s second stage of The Unlimited Dusi Canoe Marathon from Dusi Bridge to Inanda Dam on their way to consolidating their lead ahead of today’s third and final stage at Durban’s Blue Lagoon.
The defending K2 champions of this toughest of all canoe marathons now have a four minute, 10 second cushion between them and their nearest challengers, Hank Mcgregor and Len Jenkins, with the U-23 combination of Lance Kime and Kwanda Mhlope leaping from fifth place overnight to a surprise third.
Birkett and Graham applied themselves right from the start of the 48km stage with a faultless display of power paddling, especially after the confluence of the Umsindusi and Umgeni rivers, when the water level rose considerably due to the overnight water release from Nagle Dam and later on the long 10km flat water haul on the huge dam when they never a skipped a beat in their relentless drive to the finish line.
Meanwhile, the pair of Thulane Mbanjwa and Sibonelo Zondi continued to be plagued with ill-fortune, this time with their pump equipment which
Twas malfunctioning, and, although they started only three seconds behind the leaders yesterday, they were soon caught up by the third boat to be sent off, Mcgregor and Jenkins, during the second of the Saddles portages.
The two boats were neck and neck to the confluence and stayed together until the gauging weir which saw Mcgregor and Jenkins take the left hand line for a successful “shoot” but Mbanjwa and Zondi took the centre line where the water was deeper and more turbulent and paid a heavy price when they “rolled” their boat and took a time-wasting “swim”.
At this stage, they ceased to be a threat to the frontrunners with Birkett and Graham setting a fast pace to the finish line at the Msinsi Resort in 2:50,49 for an overall two-stage time of 5:27,45 with Mcgregor and Jenkins finishing in 2:53,27 and 5:31,55 overall.
“We had another great day in the boat,” said Birkett later.
The women’s race continues to be dominated by the 31-yearold Canada-based Abbey Ulansky (nee Miedema) and her 21year-old protégé, Robyn Kime, the 2010 K2 winners. They started the day with an 11minute advantage over secondplaced Pietermaritzburg twins, Abby and Alex Adie, and will go into the third and last stage with a 16:39 advantage.