EAST LONDON – Nic Notten held off an Australian challenge to claim the men’s title at the Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race on Saturday, while Jade Wilson benefited from a navigation error from defending champion Kira Bester to claim a popular home-town win in the women’s race.
Notten made full use of a deeper line in an attempt to benefit from the current, and the decision paid dividends as he held off Australian former junior World Champion Oscar Jones and East London local Josh Fenn to win by just under a minute in the race from Glen Eden beach to Nahoon in East London.
The changing wind predictions in the days leading up to the race meant the organisers switched the race days and then swapped them back on Friday, so the singles were reinstated to Saturday racing and the doubles crews will battle for glory on Sunday.
The changing pre-event conditions were mirrored in the race, as paddlers had small surf to help them until just before the finish, when they were met by tough headwinds, but nothing was going to stop Notten as he notched up his third win at the Biogen Pete Marlin.
“The start was pretty flat with some rolling bumps which kept everyone together, and I think we were sort of testing each other out,” said the 2021 World Champion after the finish. “Then the bunch split, with most of the guys kind of staying a little bit inside and I slowly started to work my way out to try and get into some of the current.
“It then sort of opened up a bit and the bumps got a bit steeper and so we could steadily increase our average speed until the end, and then the wind came up and we were going into this head wind, and that’s when it gets really tough.”
With the paddlers taking various routes to the finish, Notten was not completely sure he had won as he approached the beach.
“I thought I might have won, because I couldn’t see any of the racing snakes around me, but you never want to cross the line and think that you have won and see your competitor standing on the beaches. I wasn’t a 100 percent sure, but I knew there were some fast guys behind me so I assumed that if I hadn’t won I’d be right up there.”
For both Notten and women’s race winner, Wilson, the race, held in memory of East London paddler Pete Marlin, is special.
“I think Pete Marlin is probably one of my favourite races in the world,” said 2019 and 2021 winner Notten. “It’s sort of where I found my footing as a surfski paddler and first put my name on the map, and now I’ve done again. It means a lot for me personally, and the fact that it’s a memorial race means everyone in the surfski community gets together in East London – it’s amazing and if anyone has a bucket list, it is definitely a bucket-list race.”
East London’s Wilson said winning her home race “means the world” to her.
“I am an East London local, so it is extra-special for me to win this against a stacked field of world class paddlers.
“It went better than expected. I didn’t even know I’d won until I crossed the finish line. It was hard work out there … we had to work very hard to catch the bumps, so it was a hard grind basically the whole way for me, so I’m stoked.
“This is my first time winning and this is my best result for surfski paddling and these conditions definitely favoured me.”
Wilson’s victory was loudly celebrated by the local spectators, and nobody can begrudge her the win, but her race to the title was made a little easier by a major error by defending champion Kira Bester.
While in contention for the win, the recently crowned World Champion from Cape Town did not recognise the finish and misjudged her turn to the beach. A distraught Bester said she overshot the finish and effectively paddled past the East London Surf Lifesaving Club before turning back to eventually finish seventh.
Selected Results
Men
1 Nicholas Notten 1:12:35
2 Oscar Jones (Aus) 1:13:31
3 Joshua Fenn 1:13:43
4 Ulvard Hart 1:14:14
5 Hank Mcgregor 1:14:19
6 Matthew Fenn 1:14:30
7 Jasper Mocke 1:14:58
8 Dawid Mocke 1:16:00
9 Kenneth Rice 1:16:15
10 Mark Keeling 1:17:30
Women
1 Jade Wilson 1:26:19
2 Nix Birkett 1:27:17
3 Georgia Singe 1:28:24
4 Melanie Van Niekerk 1:28:54
5 Chloe Bunnett 1:29:19
6 Christy Shrimpton 1:30:29
7 Kira Bester 1:31:17
8 Candice Starr 1:35:04
9 Kirstin Scott 1:38:49
10 Ellen Strydom 1:39:00