Perth - Durban canoeist Barry Lewin smashed the 25 year old K1 record in winning the Brookfield Multiplex Avon Descent singles race on a very full Avon and Swan rivers.
Lewin covered the 136km two-day race in 7:53.03 hours, breaking Darryl Long's 1983 record of 8:04.50 hours, thanks to the fast flowing water in the rivers swollen by heavy rains and dams opened to ease pressure from the localised storms.
Lewin was fifteen minutes inside record pace when he got to the end of the first stage, despite having stopped to help a top Australian paddler who had run into trouble in the notorious ti-trees.
Lewin came to the aid of Ash Nisbet in a dangerous ti-tree thicket, in the process surrendering his lead in the singles race.
“With 8km to go on the 56km first stage Ash (Nisbet) got stuck in a tree and was wedged by his boat,” said Lewin. “I jumped out of mine and pulled him off the tree. Then I tried as hard as I could to catch Perth paddler Brendan Sarson, who won the first stage singles on a surf ski.”
The act of selfless bravery earned Lewin the Knight of the River award.
“Day Two was the longest days paddling I have ever done,” said Lewin after downloading the 77km trip data from his Garmin GPS unit. “I tried to catch Sarson, and made up some time on the first half of Day Two, and finished fifth overall, and broke the K1 race record.”
“What an experience,” enthused Lewin. “I had the best seconds and hosts in the Orton family, feeding me jelly babies and chocolates and looking after me during the race!”
Nisbet went on to finish second in the kayak team competition with Lewin’s Varsity College friend Clint Pretorius.
"Lewin was absolutely gunning it down the river,” said race spokesperson Gary Gannon.
Lewin’s win extends the long history of South African dominance in the K1 races since Wayne Volek's first victory in 2000. Since then the Singles title has been won by Martin Dreyer, Darryl Bartho and Sven Bruss, while the Bruss and Bartho brothers have also won the team titles.
“Paddling is a big sport in South Africa and they have bred some superb paddlers,” said Gannon.
Last year Lewin won the prestigious Liffey Descent title on his debut on the legendary Irish race into Dublin, and followed that a few weeks later wit a victory in the Soualiga Challenge surf ski race in the Caribbean.
Dave MacLeod/Gameplan Media
No comments:
Post a Comment