Flying past Nexen Beach and with only hundreds of metres to reach the finish line, South Africa’s Sean Rice and Australia’s Clint Robinson were nose to nose at Saturday’s CMW Canadian Surfski Championships on Saturday (Aug. 23).
But a late push from Rice in the final stretch gave the 25-year-old the win in the debut event.
Rice said it was a challenge to tangle with Robinson, a former multi-time Olympic medalist and member of the surf lifesaving hall of fame.
“It’s never easy sprinting to the line with a multiple Olympic medalist,” Rice said. “It was a really tactical finish because he was on a shorter line than me and I had to keep my nose ahead. I’m so happy to take the win and it was a fun race out there.”
His time of 1:21:46 was about nine seconds faster than second place Robinson. South African Hank McGregor placed third.
It’s been a good trip to North America for Rice, as he won the US Surfski Championships in San Francisco on Aug. 16. But he said the first running of the Squamish race was a success.
“About five kilometers from the finish the wind finally picked up and there were some bumps but I managed to get a really good line,” he said. “The course was great and weather wise you can get anything really.”
He explained that he’s sponsored by B.C. based Think Kayaks and it was fun to win for them.
“I travel all around the world racing for them so to get to race for them in their own backyard is amazing and such a privilege,” he said.
Rice’s next big race is in Hong Kong in November and he said he hopes to return to defend his crown at next year’s event in Squamish.
South Africa also represented in the women’s division with Michele Eray posting the top time of 1:37:33.
Eray said it was a challenging race, especially with the lack of wind.
“The wind wasn’t blowing all that much for us but the scenery and surroundings is some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen in terms of a race,” she said. “It was a fantastic first event.”
The win was a bounce back for Eray, who placed fifth at the US Surfski Championships after she broke her rudder.
She said the surfski scene in South Africa is massive.
“On something like a Friday night race we’ll have 100 people show up,” she said. “But we have a feeder system because everyone does surf lifesaving and they get into surfski from that.”
Bellingham’s Heather Nelson placed second (1:40:36), with Georgia Laird (1:41:02) in third.
Maple Ridge’s Wes Hammer was the top Canadian male with a time of 1:29:40, while the top Canadian female was Leanne Stanley from Kelowna.
Several Squamish residents also took on the 21 km course, with Ian Lowe posting the top local time of 1:37:30. Lowe placed 33rd overall at the event. Other local results included: Eric Waters (85th), Graham Schulz (87th), Pete Fritz (90th) and Louie Soave (91st).
Event organizer Bob Putnam said he was pleased with year one of the event.
“I think it went pretty good and we’ve got a lot of positive feedback from the racers,” he said. “The Squamish Paddling Club and Ian Lowe did a great job with a lot of the behind the scenes stuff that kept things running smoothly and I think the international racers were astounded by some of the scenery.”
He said next year’s edition of the race will likely remain similar to this year’s and that the starting point at Porteau Cove worked well.
For complete results from the event, visit www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=27128.
