Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race winners come from near and far

EAST LONDON – The Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race attracts paddlers from near and far, and that was reflected in the tight battles for the titles with Andy Birkett securing a popular home-town win while New Zealand's Dani Richards squeezed home as the women's champion on Saturday.

Both races were incredibly tight with just 37 seconds covering the top four in the men's category, while Richards was just able to reverse last weekend's World Championship result and edged out Kira Bester by eight seconds after the 22km paddle from Orient Beach to Yellow Sands.

In the men's event, Birkett led the top four around the Yellow Sands Point within sight of the finish, after holding off the three chasers for the majority of the race. Coming past the point break, Birkett took a more conservative line and said afterwards he "thought they were coming past."

"I knew when we get to the point, the skilled surfski paddlers behind me were going to catch waves," said a relieved Birkett. "I've broken a boat on the point here before, so I was trying to be cautious, but I looked behind me and I had three guys coming at me like a pack of wolves – so I was paddling scared from there to the end."

"But I managed to get a little bump (wave) and stay ahead of the guys."

Behind him, Australian Oscar Jones led defending champion Nic Notten around the point in pursuit of Birkett, but last year's winner managed to get on a wave and surf past his international rival. Matt Fenn was just not able to make use of his local knowledge to do the same, but did close to within a second of the podium on the run up the beach.

Race winner, Danielle Richards from New Zealand, is flanked by runner up Kira Bester (left) and last year's winner, Jade Wilson after the Biogen Pete Marlin Surfski Race last year.

The women's race started relatively slowly, and the lead group only broke up after about four kilometres when Richards separated from the group and opened up a small gap on Bester.

Coming into the finish, Bester cut the point break a bit tighter than the New Zealander and was able to get close, but was just unable to do enough to repeat her World Championship win in Durban last week.

"It was a pretty good battle out there between Kira and I again," said Richards on the beach. "It was tough work. I had to leave it all out there."

"At the end, Kira took the inside line, which she had to do, and that caused the sprint up the beach. At least it was exciting for everyone."

Sunday sees the paddlers take to the water again from Nahoon Beach in the 17km doubles race.

Selected Results

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 Shirley Smith 01:50:22

Images: Craig Giese / Gameplan Media

Tim Whitfield / Gameplan Media