Defending champion Abbey Miedema took control of the Isuzu Berg River Canoe marathon with a solo charge that secured a tactically significant thirty second lead over Graeme Solomon on a very full and fast-flowing river.
Miedema continued her vice-like grip on the women’s race, extending her lead over Pietermaritzburg schoolgirl Abie Adie to ten minutes and improving her overall place by three to 26th, with Lindi-May Harmsen third, seventeen minutes further back.
The 46 kilometer second stage – the shortest of the race – was raced at breakneck speed, making for a nerve-racking stage as the high water had made most of the route unrecognizable, with the Drie Heuwels weir completely submerged, and the endurance canoeists paddling through the tops of trees.
It is expected that the fast flowing river would help with the demanding 75km third stage to follow on Thursday, with experts predicting that with the full river will negate the many small channels, resulting in a number of big bunches of paddlers at the front of the race.
Day three is a 75km stage from Bridgetown to Zoutkloof, which starts with a batch of slower paddlers before a massed start at 8:30am.
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