The weather and ocean conspired to deliver tough conditions for the participants in the Ocean Heroes at a blustery Dairy Beach on Sunday, 13 November 2022, with Saskia Hockly mastering the conditions to claim the prestigious Gold title.
Hockly came into the event off the back of her success at the surfski worlds in Portugal and her overall win the Pete Marlin women’s surfski race in East London last weekend, but said she had underestimated the demands of the Gold event.
Saskia Hockly Continues Winning Form at Pete Marlin Surfski Race
“To be honest I thought I could not train for this and kill it, but this is not something to take lightly,” said Hockly.
“Doing a full ironman is super tough!
“I am an endurance athlete so I really enjoyed the format of the event,” said the Umhlanga teenager.
She said that, despite the conditions thrown at them on the day, the depth of the field had excited her.
“A lot of people showed up to compete that I didn’t really know were part of our sport!” she said. “It was great to see everyone coming together to support the event.
With her skills in the lifesaving disciplines Hockly was caught off guard by the testing conditions at Dairy Beach on Sunday morning.
“I looked at the forecast, but then I was surprised by how big the surf was when we got here,” she said. “It brought a great aspect to the event because you needed to bring your wave skills and surf skills. A lot of people got hammered going out!”
“It puts the surf lifesaving into the sport when you have gnarly conditions for a change,” she added.
The first senior woman home Lara Edward, who said she took full advantage of an unexpectedly clean launch of her surfski leg.
“I took a line right against the pier and it worked really well, as I got a clean line out.” she said.
“The seven kay run was quite far, I am not going to lie,” she added. “I just tried my best.”
SUMMARY OF RESULTS – 2022 Ocean Heroes
Gold Senior
1st Lara Edward
Gold Junior
1st Saskia Hockly
2nd Dayna Deeble
3rd Valma Jean Hockly
Surf Swim Ladies
1st Madison Alberts
Teams Event
1st Emma Atkinson, Kate Lynn Todd, Jade Salter
Photo 1 Caption: Using the skills that took her to a second junior surfski title Saskia Hockly powered away on the ski leg of the 2022 Ocean Heroes at Dairy Beach on Sunday. Photo: Brian Spurr/Gameplan Media
With editing by gsport
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