On a day that everything did not go according to plan, 11-time World Marathon Champion and 14-time race winner Hank McGregor took control of the Berg River Canoe Marathon and opened up a gap on young Maties student Joshua Glyn-Cuthbert.<\/p>\n
Photo: John Hishin \/Cape Town Sports Photography<\/em><\/p>\n At the finish of Day 2 on Thursday, the 48-year-old veteran had built a solid two-and-a-half minute lead over his young rival, but while he is now in the perfect position to ensure his 15th victory, the paddle from Zonquasdrift to Bridgetown proved how quickly things can go wrong.<\/p>\n The pair paddled together until Train Bridge, about 30km into the 46km stage, before McGregor was able to make a small break and looked ready to power away from his young rival.<\/p>\n “It was a tough day out,” said the Team Euro Steel paddler after finishing. “It started well, but then I made one or two mistakes. Firstly I took the wrong channel and came across a tree block, and Josh was gone … he never followed me down that section.<\/p>\n “I actually paddled back up the channel and then came across more tree blocks, and eventually ended up swimming.”<\/p>\n “I managed to gather my thoughts, but there was a lot of pulling myself towards myself. There was nobody around so there was no point being too vocal, but inside I was releasing a lot of frustration. I caught him about 10 minutes later and then we came across some sort of blockage and I had to portage.<\/p>\n “I just managed to run under faster than he did and when I was putting in I swam again. I managed to use my surfski skills to get into the boat in deep water, but obviously it is then full of water so I had to pump for the next couple minutes. From then I just put my head down and said “I am tired of making mistakes, it’s time to open a gap now,” and I managed to get away with about seven kays to go.<\/p>\n “So the day was a solid finish for me, but I made some stupid mistakes,” added the veteran.<\/p>\n The lead does means it will be a major upset if the world’s most successful marathon kayaker paddler does not extend his record number of wins and add 12 months to his record as the oldest winner.<\/p>\n Behind the two leaders there were some other significant changes to they leaderboard. KZN’s Jeremy Maher stormed through the field and moved up from seventh into third place, 10 minutes behind Glyn-Cuthbert. 2024 champion Tom Lovemore is another 45 seconds back after moving up from sixth to fourth and is still in the fight for a podium spot.<\/p>\n One of the big losers was Msawenkosi Mtolo who slipped from third into fifth, ahead of Heinrich Schloms, Anders Hart, and Paul Marais \u2013 up from 11th to eighth. Benjamin Mntonintshi fell from fifth to ninth while Zamokuhle Meyiwa rounded out the top ten in the same position he started.<\/p>\n Neriyah Dill tightened her grip on the women’s race and added 22 minutes to her overnight lead. She now enjoys a massive 34-minute advantage over former champion Christy Shrimpton, who in turn extended her lead over Natasha Bradford.<\/p>\n It is going to take a major disaster for Dill to be caught and after finishing second and third in her first two attempts at the four-day marathon in 2024 and 2025, it looks almost a foregone conclusion she is going to complete a full-house of podium places.<\/p>\n Day 3 is a brutal test on Friday. The Queen Stage is a massive 75km from Bridgetown to Zoutkloof and includes a portage around the Misverstand Dam wall, but the mass start format means big groups across the dam and makes it tough to make up time.<\/p>\n SELECTED RESULTS Women
\nMen
\n(under position, name, Day 1, Day 2, Overall)
\n1 Hank McGregor (4:42:35, 3:36:18) 8:18:53
\n2 Joshua Glyn-Cuthbert (4:42:36, 3:38:51) 8:21:27
\n3 Jeremy Maher (4:52:12, 3:39:10) 8:31:22
\n4 Thomas Lovemore (4:51:20, 3:40:47) 8:32:07
\n5 Msawenkosi Mtolo (4:45:27, 3:51:52) 8:37:20
\n6 Heinrich Schloms (4:52:53, 3:44:27) 8:37:20
\n7 Anders Hart (4:52:52, 3:47:05) 8:39:58
\n8 Paul Marais (4:55:57, 3:50:51) 8:46:48
\n9 Benjamin Mntonintshi (4:51:19; 3:55:37) 8:46:56
\n10 Zamokuhle Meyiwa (4:54:03, 3:54:56) 8:48:59<\/p>\n
\n1 Neriyah Dill (5.23.33, 4:05:07) 9:28:40
\n2 Christy Shrimpton (5.35.36, 4:27:18) 10:02:54
\n3 Natasha Bradford (5.46.03, 4:34:10) 10:20:13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"