EAST LONDON – A sprinkling of recently-crowned world champions will be battling for more glory at one of the country’s most popular events, the Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race on Saturday and Sunday in East London.
The prestigious “Pete Marlin” has once again attracted a strong field of local paddlers, including many who earned medals at last week’s ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships in Durban, and they will be pushed by a healthy field of international competitors from over 20 countries.
Heading the field are recently-crowned local World Champions Kira Bester, Matt Fenn, Ryley Smith, Holly Smith and Heath Clarke, and they will be facing other medallists that include Dani Richards from New Zealand and Rosie Edwards from the UK, and South African U23s Matthew Coetzer and Jade Wilson, and junior Madison Fourie.
In a coup for the women’s race, all three from the women’s podium – Bester, Richards and Edwards – will battle it out once again this weekend. The women’s race looks to be a particularly strong with other potential winners including 2024 World Championships medallists, Melanie van Niekerk and Michelle Burn, and last year’s race winner Wilson.
However, the paddler to beat is surely Bester. The young Cape Town surfski specialist has been the dominant force in ocean paddling since her victory at the Pete Marlin race in 2023. Last year, a few weeks after she won the World Championships overall as an U23, she was unlucky not to defend her Pete Marlin title when she paddled past the finish beach while leading, and so gifted Wilson an easy win.
The diminutive Bester was clearly the strongest paddler at the World Champs last weekend and mixed power-paddling with tactics and downwind skills to lead almost from start to finish. If she can find the same form this weekend – and choose the right line into the finish – she is going to be very hard to beat.
The men’s field may not have any of the overall medallists on the start line, but nobody can deny the field is loaded with some of the world’s best with five who finished in the top ten overall, as well as medallists from the u23 and junior races last weekend.
Fenn will be buoyed by his mixed doubles win last weekend and as an East London local and part of the family of one of the event’s major sponsors, he has a couple of extra layers of motivation to produce a home-town win.
Former World Champion and last year’s winner Nicholas Notten, Uli Hart, Josh Fenn and veteran Dawid Mocke all finished within the top ten in Durban and will be looking to convert that form into a top finish this weekend.
Last year’s runner up, Oscar Jones, will be keen to be go one better this year. He was eighth in Durban and clearly the young Australian is in top form and will have to be watched closely by the local contingent.
The current wind and weather predictions mean the SS1 race looks almost certain to be run from Orient Beach to Yellow Sands in what are predicted to be superb downwind conditions.
With men’s and women’s races that looks like the leaders could be tightly bunched as the they approach the famous finish, the Yellow Sands point break just before the finish could come into play. Some paddlers are sure to take the quick, but risky, “tiger line” and flirt with potential disaster. If the risk pays off we could see a last-gasp come-from-behind win, or we could see some leaders hopes literally dashed on the rocks within sight of the finish line.
Sunday’s doubles race is likely to be held on the same course, and some fascinating combinations have teamed up, with the men’s race shaping up to be a dice between Matthew Fenn and Andy Birkett; Hart and Coetzer; Brendan Rice and Jones; Mark Keeling and Mocke; and Notten and Ron Benjano.
The women’s race could see a fourway battle between Bester and Wilson; Burn and Nix Birkett; Van Niekerk and Dani Richards; and Chloe Bunnett and Edwards.