Paddlers prayers for overnight rain and a full river ahead of the start of the 2013 N3TC Drak Challenge were certainly answered as Team Best 4 Kayak Centre’s Abby Adie claimed a handy thirty-three second lead over team mate and defending champ Robyn Kime with South Coast surfski star Michelle Burn (neé Eder) claiming third spot after the opening stage.
As paddlers rose early on Saturday morning any doubts that may have existed when they went to bed on Friday evening as to whether a full opening day’s racing would be possible due to a low river level were soon dispelled as news spread like wildfire that the river had flooded overnight and organisers were forced to delay the start in order to assess the safety of participants.
Organisers limited participation to only A grade paddlers and disallowed any junior competitors from taking part. Racing finally got underway at 11h00 and after 26km of tough yet exhilarating racing it was Adie who claimed victory over Kime and will take the psychological advantage with her going into Sunday’s second and final stage.
“I had such a brilliant day,” said Adie. “I had a swim a little way above Black Murray which gave Robs (Kime) the lead but when I got to Black Murray I could see her putting in and she must have had a swim shortly afterwards because before I knew it I’d caught her and then it became more a matter of survival than anything else.”
“It’s quite tough to close a gap on at this level but mistakes also happen so easily and with so much water they can cost you so much more than usual so tomorrow is all about making as few mistakes as possible,” she added.
With the raging Umzimkulu’s assistance, Adie smashed the women’s record by almost 13 minutes.
With more rain potentially on the cards for Saturday night paddlers will be holding their breathe ahead of the start of Sunday’s second stage. The twentieth anniversary of the race is however shaping up to mirror the inaugural edition of the race in 1994 where similar high river levels and attrition rates were recorded.
Day two of the N3TC Drak Challenge is set to start at Swartberg bridge at 07h00 and ends 38km later at Hopewell Farm.
More information can be found here.
Summary of Results – N3TC Drak Challenge Day One 1. Abby Adie (U23) 1.23:06 2. Robyn Kime (U23) 1.23:39 3. Michelle Burn 1.26:29 4. Jen Theron 1.27:08 5. Brittany Petersen (U23) 1.33:34 Under 23 Women 1. Abby Adie 1.23:06 2. Robyn Kime 1.23:39 3. Brittany Petersen 1.33:34
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