Jenna Ward edged out rising teenage star Saskia Hockly to claim women's line honours at the China Silver Asset Management SA S1 Surfski Championships sponsored by the World Surfski League at St. Francis on Saturday. Photo: Anthony Grote/Gameplan Media

Jenna Ward threw down the gauntlet to the younger pretenders to her throne by posting an emphatic win in the China Silver Asset Management SA S1 Surfski Championships sponsored by the World Surfski League, adding the single ski title to the national double ski title she won in Durban last weekend.

The surfski race was the first of three successive event making up the P.W. Harvey & Carey Olsen St. Francis Paddle Fest, and attracted a big field eager to challenge for the national ski honours over a course changed on the day of the race to avoid the adverse weather conditions.

The gale force winds and big surf buffeting the Eastern Cape forced the race organisers to scrap the ocean leg planned for the 14km race and kept the surfskis within the St. Francis canals and on the Krom River.

Durbanites Jenna Ward and schoolgirl Saskia Hockly broke clear at the end of the Krom River leg of the race, with Ward taking the sprint to the finish line at the small craft harbour. Olympic sprint medallist Bridgitte Hartley took the last spot on the podium.

“We started with the juniors and the first few minutes of the race were chaotic,” she said. “I got away with a few of the guys but then we were all out of our skis portaging over sandbanks.

“I ended up on my own for forty minutes before Saskia (Hockly) and Bridgitte (Hartley) caught me. Saskia and I were on the same small wave at the turn back to the canals and I knew from training with her that I had to get into the last canal ahead of her, which I managed to do,” she said.

Ward won the national surfski double after taking the S2 title at the Bay Union King of the Bay in Durban with Hockly last weekend.

On Sunday the canals of St. Francis host the K1 races at the SA Marathon Championships on the second day of the P.W. Harvey & Carey Olsen St. Francis Paddle Fest.

 

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

1 Jenna Ward 1:06:21.45
2 Saskia Hockly 1:06:22.59
3 Bridgitte Hartley 1:07:22.36
4 Chloe Bunnett 1:09:37.03
5 Melanie Van Niekerk 1:09:55.93

 

Photo 1 Caption: Jenna Ward edged out rising teenage star Saskia Hockly to claim women’s line honours at the China Silver Asset Management SA S1 Surfski Championships sponsored by the World Surfski League at St. Francis on Saturday. Photo: Anthony Grote/Gameplan Media

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