Potent lineup for 2025 Freedom Paddle
CAPE TOWN – The 2025 Prescient Freedom Paddle on April 27 will be the culmination of a big weekend of racing for the country's top surfski paddlers with a strong men's field reflecting the event's importance and also highlighting the strength of South African ocean racing in general.
Hank McGregor (right) and Josh Fenn will be aiming for their fifth win and third in a row when they team up for the the Prescient Freedom Paddle.This year's race around Robben Island has even more significance than its traditional annual celebration of Freedom Day. The event has been designated as the 2025 South African SS2 (double surfski) Championships, and it will also be the final event in a weekend of action that includes the national SS1 (singles) championships and trial for the World Championships team on Friday at Fish Hoek.
As defending Prescient Freedom Paddle champions, and the 2024 SA SS2 Championship winners, Hank McGregor and Josh Fenn will go into the event with the chance to defend two major titles on April 27. The potent combination are targeting their fifth win in the race in six years and third in a row, and are expected once again to lead the pack around the historic island landmark.
However, they face a strong challenge from a potent lineup of paddlers, who all have one eye on the World Championships which will be held in South Africa for the first time when Durban hosts the global showpiece of ocean racing in October.
McGregor is a multiple world marathon champion, while Fenn is a former U23 surfski world champion, so individually and as a combination they have an incredible resume, but know they will once again have to be on top form to claim the win.
Entries are still arriving in the Freedom Paddle offices, and many paddlers are yet to confirm partners, but already included on the entry list hoping to upset the Fenn / McGregor duo is a pair of former World Champions, Nick Notten, who is also a two-time Prescient Freedom Paddle winner, and Kenny Rice; as well as Mark Keeling, who ended in the top ten at the 2024 World Championships; and last year's Freedom Paddle runner up with Uli Hart, Wayne Jacobs.
One paddler that the McGregor/Fenn duo will be happy he will not to be challenging for the overall victory, is that of current SS1 national champion Hart. The Cape Town local is opting to paddle with young rising star Georgia Singe in a mixed double. Hart has been something of a "nearly man" and a constant threat for the top step of the podium at the Prescient Freedom Paddle, with two second positions and three more top-five finishes in recent years.
Uli Hart, the current SA single surfski champion will be paddling in a mixed double with former junior marathon world champion Georgia Singe at the Prescient Freedom Paddle on Freedom Day.Hart has a paddling CV that is growing ever-more impressive each year, but the 24-year-old's decision to paddle in a mixed double category with 18-year-old Singe is a long-term strategy as the pair look toward the World Championships in October, where they will be defending their World Championship Mixed Doubles title.
Singe, a former world junior marathon champion, and Hart will have many of the all-men's crews nervously looking over their shoulders.
Hart has just come off an impressive sprint programme where he claimed medals in every event he paddled at last weekend's SA Championships.
"For the relatively short time I have been working toward sprinting, I was pretty happy with my weekend results," said Hart this week. "It has crossed my mind to focus on sprinting and look at potentially paddling in the Olympics (in LA in 2028), but I wanted to see how fast I could go as a sprinter before completely committing.
"I do not want to put all my eggs in that basket just yet. I think a lot of South Africans made that mistake and so I will concentrate on other disciplines and see how it goes and then make that decision."
"My win at the SA Ocean Racing Champs in Durban last year built my confidence for surfski racing and so this year the World Champs at the same venue is high on the cards, and I am looking forward to the weekend of racing with SA S1 Champs and trials and then the Freedom Paddle. The SA S1 Champs are on my home turf in False Bay so I am excited to be to racing that, and then I will paddle with Georgia on the Sunday in the race around Robben Island."
Entries for the Prescient Freedom Paddle are still open and more information can be seen at https://freedompaddle.co.za/
