Written by Rob Mousley
Saturday, 20 December 2008
There was really only one question for me today - would Hank McGregor shrug off the fatigue of the 240km Southern Shamaal PE2EL Challenge and pose any kind of challenge to the on-form, rested Dawid Mocke? The answer was emphatic.
Hank McGregor - dominator (Pic: Owen Middleton)
All at Sea
Surfski.info was at sea today - watching the race from an escort boat. A change of perspective for me: usually I'm either in the race or in an office typing commentary based on other people's live reports!
We had a few technical issues to begin with - our shore based commentator had some connection problems and we lost mobile signal a few times on the Atlantic side of the peninsula - but as we got back into False Bay, we were able to connect a laptop on the escort boat to the Internet and it was game on...
Conditions
The forecast had been saying for a while that the race would be run in very mild conditions - and it was right: the sea was glassy. The low cloud and cool breeze meant the paddlers were in no danger of overheating, however.
Glassy conditions at dawn (Pic: Owen Middleton)
Bunches
The paddlers started in groups, graded according to ability with the slower groups starting first.
We found the elite group in a tight bunch. "One of the rules of Cape Point," said local Cape paddler Tom Schilperoort, "is to avoid pulling the bunch too early." Scott Rutherfoord, Oscar Chalupsky and Steve Woods did some of the early work while the others waited and bided their time.
Scott Rutherfoord pulls the elite bunch (Pic: Owen Middleton)
Some 10km into the race, they hit the massive kelp beds that are a feature of this race. "As soon as we hit the kelp beds, the Epic team came to a halt," said Hank McGregor afterwards. "We had kelp rudders but we hadn't put them on and the kelp held us back. As soon as they saw that, the Fenn guys took off through more kelp!
"We didn't panic though and Matt and I just helped each other - I'd clean his rudder and he'd clean mine, but every time we lost another fifteen or so metres on the lead bunch."
Dawid Mocke, Tom Schilperoort, Scott Rutherfoord and Graeme Solomon pulled away, and by the time they reached Cape Point, Dawid was clear of the bunch, some 50m in front of second placed Schilperoort.
Hank McGregor takes the inside line, close to the rocks (Pic: Owen Middleton)
"When I saw that they'd gone around the rocks," said McGregor, "I decided to cut inside to try and catch them up. It was risky and Matt asked me at one point if we were going to make it!"
The move paid off and the pair made up some of the lost ground - but McGregor was still 90 seconds behind Mocke at the check point just after the Point.
Wide Line
"I decided that I didn't want to follow Dawid and have to try to catch him," McGregor went on. "So I took a wide line. Apart from anything else, it made Dawid's lead look smaller!"
Dawid Mocke - in the lead (Pic: Owen Middleton)
Whether it was the different conditions (there appeared to be slightly larger swells on the outside line) or just McGregor's incredible strength, the move paid off and by the time the paddlers reached Partridge Point, less than ten kilometers later, McGregor had moved into the lead.
Mocke was shocked. "My race was going perfectly," he said. "I noticed a ski out to sea but I thought it was from one of the early batches.
"Then it started to pull away from me and I knew it must be Hank."
Behind Mocke, 21-year-old Tom Schilperoort was having the race of his life. Lying third behind Mocke and McGregor, the young man knew he was in trouble when he hit the 40km mark. "I hit the wall at that point," he said. "Graeme Solomon overtook me as did Matt Boumann."
Only a Millers Run to go
"I probably went out a little too hard from the Point," said McGregor. "I raced to the lighthouse and after that I just raced a km at a time. The last one and a half km I was really tired; I could see the finish but it just never came closer."
But his lead was too great and Dawid Mocke never looked like catching up.
McGregor finished the race in 03:54:55, Mocke arriving in second place just under three minutes later.
Hank McGregor welcomed home by his girfriend Pippa Elliott
(who leapt overboard off the escort boat)! (Pic: Owen Middleton)
Meanwhile Capetonian Graeme Solomon, taking the same line as Dawid Mocke, had consolidated his lead over Tom Schilperoort. Matt Boumann however had punctured and dropped back to eighth place.
Schilperoort had found his second wind and chased Solomon, but just didn't have the legs to catch him.
Hank is Incredible
Rutherfoord said he hit the wall at the Point and it was all he could do to keep his fifth position. "Hank's incredible," he said. "To come from the PE2EL and have such strength is simply amazing."
A surprise result at sixth place was another Capetonian, Steve Farrell.
Women's Race
"I had a great race," said Michelle Eray. "Alexa and I worked together up to the Point, where I managed to pull away from her and I never saw her again."
Eray has had a great season, winning the SA Champs in Knysna, the Man Dragon Run in Hong Kong and the Dubai Shamaal.
Alexa Cole dicing with Michelle Eray before Cape Point (Pic: Owen Middleton)
A member of the South African Women's K4 team in Beijing, Eray said that she's not going to go back to sprinting - at least for 2009. Instead she's going to compete in as many of the Surfski World Series races as she can - with a few marathons to mix it up.
Doubles Race
Pete Cole said he "wimped out of the main race" this year - but, with Martin Dreyer, he dominated the doubles race, winning in a time of 4:00:22 - more than six minutes ahead of Brett Caudwell and Mark Alderman.
Master has the last word
Tony Scott won the Master's category.
"It's good to see the race going from strength to strength," said the 62 year old, himself a multiple winner of the Cape Point Challenge. "It's an interesting course and of course everyone wants to go around Cape Point."
Everyone wants to go around Cape Point! (Pic: Owen Middleton)
|
