EAST LONDON – The start line for the 2024 Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race on November 2-3 will be packed with world champions from the recent World Surfski Championships.
In total, South Africa’s biggest surfski event has attracted 10 winners who were recently crowned at the ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships at Madeira Island.
Heading the lineup will be the women’s defending champion, Kira Bester, who recently produced a remarkable performance off the Portuguese island to claim the overall World Championship title as well as the U23 gold medal.
In a potent women’s field, Bester will have to be at her best to defend her 2023 victory against the current South African Champion and two-time overall World Champion Michelle Burn, who was the runner up at the recent World Champs in the overall race and the winner of the gold medal in the senior category.
Another superstar in the making who will be lining up in East London on November 2-3 will be junior Georgia Singe. The 17-year-old is arguably South Africa’s paddler of the year for 2024 after collecting no less than five World Championship medals in the past month.
The Peninsula Canoe Club schoolgirl was the junior champion in Madeira in the singles and then paddled with Uli Hart to win the Mixed Doubles Championship overall, which meant the pair doubled up as the U23 champions as well. The Surfski World Championships took place just two weeks after the Marathon World Championships in Metkovic, Croatia, where Singe also collected two silver medals in the junior K1 and K2 races.
Another Surfski World Champs medallist will be Melanie van Niekerk who was second in the U23 and fourth overall, while another top woman competing in East London will be local Jade Wilson, who was ninth in the Madeira World Championships. Although not at the World Championships, East London local Nix Birkett was initially selected and with her local knowledge is likely to be in contention.
In the men’s field in East London, there will be four current surfski World Champions – U23 singles champion Matt Fenn, junior men’s champion Sam Mocke, overall and U23 mixed doubles champion Uli Hart (with Singe), and junior mixed doubles champion Ryley Smith.
Although not official championship categories, two other gold medallists from Madeira who will competing in East London are age group winners, Simon Willmott (men 65-69) and Andreas van Tonder (with Danie van Wyk in men’s 60-64 doubles).
Defending race champion Hank McGregor was also among the medals at the World Championships. The 46-year-old, 11-time Marathon World Champion was third in the overall race in Madeira to claim a bronze in the senior men’s category, while Hart (men’s U23) and Fenn (with Saskia Hockly in senior mixed doubles) also earned bronze medals.
Also joining the field on November 2-3 will be two former overall World Champions, 2021 winner Nic Notten and 2022 champion Kenny Rice, as well as former U23 world champion Josh Fenn (2019) and junior champion Mark Keeling (2015), who all finished in the top 15 in Madeira.
Other men who could be in contention are Olympic team-members Andy Birkett and Hamish Lovemore, while Australian Oscar Jones, a medallist at the World Championships in 2023, will have to be watched closely.
The potent lineup of 330 entrants will be tackling the singles and doubles races on the weekend of November 2-3. Depending on weather conditions, paddlers are likely to compete in singles on Saturday, November 2 and doubles the next day, with the course adjusted to ensure the best possible downwind conditions. Registration and prize givings will all be held at the East London Surf Lifesaving Club at Nahoon Beach.