Andy at the double at Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race weekend

EAST LONDON – World-renowned marathon canoeist, Andy Birkett, proved to be double trouble for his rivals at the Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race weekend in East London as he won the SS2 race with Matt Fenn on Sunday to add to his singles victory on Saturday.

Matt Fenn (right) and Andy Birkett working hard to win the doubles event at the Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race.

Sunday's 17km SS2 (double surfski) race from Nahoon Beach to Yellow Sands gave Birkett his second victory of the weekend, while Kira Bester, paddling with Jade Wilson, reversed Saturday's loss to New Zealand's Dani Richards, who finished second with Melanie van Niekerk in the women's race.

Birkett and Fenn enjoyed a perfect start to the defence of their Dusi Canoe Marathon doubles title by partnering up for the first time "in a while" and claiming the win by 44-seconds over veteran former winner Dawid Mocke and Mark Keeling, with Australians Brendan Rice and Oscar Jones completing the podium.

Birkett was understandably happy with his weekend of racing.

"It has been awesome racing at the Pete Marlin and really nice being back in the boat with Matty," said Birkett after Sunday's race. "It's been a while since we last were in a double together. Now I will be gearing up for a nice river season with Matt ... and then the Duzi."

But the Team Euro Steel paddlers, who will defend their doubles title in February next year, did not have things all their own way, with three-time winner Mocke and Keeling closing in over the last few kilometres.

"I'm very happy, but it was hard work ... Dawid and Mark kept us on our toes all race," said Fenn. "It wasn't just a lonely paddle – we had a good dice on our hands and I'm pleased that we came away on top."

"We were with Dawid and Mark for about three kays or so and they were charging hard," added Birkett. "So Matt took us a little bit off their line so we had our own space to find a momentum, and we got a bit of a gap. But Dawid and Mark had a little charge just before the Yellow Sands Point and they closed us down a bit ... they probably halved the gap we had, but we had enough for the end here."

In the women's race, Bester and Wilson managed to get a small lead as they left the beach at Nahoon and held on for a win of almost a minute, but East London local Wilson was a bit worried at the end when Bester cut close to the point break at Yellow Sands.

Kira Bester (left) and Jade Wilson power toward the finish of the Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race.

"No, we did not play it safe at the end," said Wilson with a laugh. "Kira cut the point properly ... it was so close that we almost went over a rock, and almost took our rudder off which would have ended our race. But luckily, we managed to just miss the rock and come in clean."

"Yeah, that was pretty close I guess," added Bester a little sheepishly with a huge smile.

There was double celebrations in the Fenn household with Matt's brother Josh winning the mixed race with Holly Smith, with Ryan Lark and Melissa Johnson second, just a few seconds ahead of Nordin Sparmann and Louisa Waltermann.

Selected Results

Sunday – SS2

Men
1 Matthew Fenn/Andy Birkett 01:00:30
2 Mark Keeling/Dawid Mocke 01:01:14
3 Brendan Rice/Oscar Jones 01:02:13
4 Nicholas Notten/Ron Benjano 01:03:20
5 Tyde Malherbe /Phillip Smith 01:04:38
6 Matthew Coetzer/Liam Stephenson 01:05:52
7 Dyllan Farrell/Jonny Lucas 01:06:10
8 Jonathan Dagnaes/Reef Funston 01:06:21
9 Davey Brand/Heath Clarke 01:07:14
10 Ryan Lark/Melissa Johnson 01:07:26
Women
1 Kira Bester/Jade Wilson 01:08:48
2 Melanie Van Niekerk/Danielle Richards 01:09:45
3 Michelle Burn/Nix Birkett 01:10:40
4 Chloe Bunnett/Rosie Edwards 01:10:58
5 Mikaila Brown/Tessa Salmon 01:21:32
Mixed
1 Joshua Fenn/Holly Smith 01:06:13
2 Ryan Lark/Melissa Johnson 01:07:26
3 Nordin Sparmann/Louisa Waltermann 01:07:34
4 Katerina Milova/Francisco Quintana 01:08:33
5 Toby Peyton-Jones/Brynde Kreft 01:10:22

SATURDAY – SS1
Men
1 Andy Birkett 01:29:56
2 Nicholas Notten 01:30:13
3 Oscar Jones 01:30:32
4 Matthew Fenn 01:30:33
5 Dawid Mocke 01:31:56
6 Mark Keeling 01:32:28
7 Joshua Fenn 01:33:06
8 Gene Prato 01:33:10
9 Matthew Coetzer 01:34:16
10 Ron Benjano 01:34:37
Women
1 Danielle Richards 01:39:21
2 Kira Bester 01:39:29
3 Jade Wilson 01:42:22
4 Rosie Edwards 01:44:18
5 Melanie van Niekerk 01:44:42
6 Nix Birkett 01:45:11
7 Brynde Kreft 01:46:40
8 Chloe Bunnett 01:47:04
9 Louisa Waltermann 01:49:36
10 Holly Smith 01:50:22

Images: Jon Ivins / Gameplan Media

Craig Giese / Gameplan Media