Pete was born in Zambia in November 1956. He completed his High School Education at Queens College in Queenstown. At school Pete was a competitive sportsman and a talented rugby player. Pete played Border Schools Rugby at the 1974 Craven week and was selected for the SA Schools B team.
After completing a Civil Engineering Degree at the University of Natal , Pete joined Grinaker and was posted to the Eastern Cape working on various Construction Projects and ended up settling in East London.
Pete always enjoyed sporting challenges and started paddling in East London with some of East London paddling legends Gary Atkinson, Johnny Woods , Hennie Roes and the late Gareth Peddie. Pete competed in most of the country’s major river and sea races. Unfortunately Pete tragically lost his life whilst competing in the 1989 Umkomaas river race.
Pete would be truly honoured that friends and fellow paddlers have gathered together for the last +25 years to paddle a race in his memory.