Greg and Hein win the Pam Golding Challenge again!
The 18th Pam Golding Properties – St Francis Bay 2024 Canals Winter Doubles Challenge, held on Saturday, a lovely calm sunny winter’s day, was won by national paddlers Hein Van Rooyen and Greg Louw (both previous winners) in a very quick 1hr 29min 53secs, ahead of the 60 other hopefuls.
Greg is a multiple Fish River Marathon winner, and Hein, apart from being a sensational sportsman, is co-owner of surfski manufacturer, Carbonology.
They bagged the trophy and the first prize of R3000, plus other smaller prizes.
The other top placed paddlers
The rest of the podium for the 20km race consisted of 2nd placed exciting under 18’s Matt Coetzer and Liam Stephenson from Plett, and rounding off the podium was last week’s grueling Berg River Marathon winner Tom Lovemore, with his apparently less illustrious friend Kelvin Trautman.
Three minutes behind the first three were PE father and son team of Andrew and U18 son Leo Stone, and Werner Kruger and well-known Fanta Gous, both also from PE.
A further few minutes back were the first mixed (and married!) boat, Brandon and Tracey van der Walt. And not far further back were the first ladies, the under 23 pair, Georgia Stone and local lifesaving ace Nicola Harcus.
Sponsor wins the over 65’s
As sponsor and paddler for the last 18 years (and organiser for the first few years), I enjoyed paddling with Andrew Knight, winning the over 65 category (the only boat in the category!) … with a wonderful slip for about 19.9km from Paul Gerrard and Robert Lee!
Our four Sea Vista teenagers also paddled very well, showing us what they learnt from their coaching in Germany last year.
The short course winners
We also always hold a shorter 10km race, won this year rather easily by local father windsurfing ace James Moore and talented under 12 son Jack, ahead of two more daughters from the very fit Harcus family, Jess and Dani, with slightly older Byron Andrews and Ana Marie Hay in third place.
This race is always a doubles race, but singles are welcome, but sadly aren’t recognized in the prizes, but club captain Pete King is worth a mention for his excellent 20km race, finally fit after injuring his shoulder in a surfski accident in the river mouth in January.
Not held at the Quays this year
After eight years of holding our races at Quays, we returned to our old venue at the Cove, which is also a lovely spot, with lots of parking, shade, shelter, toilets and space for a crowded start.
The course was, as always for this race, our regular Wednesday evening time trial 5km route, paddled four times for the main 20km race. So by the end, we were very familiar with some of the spectators, torn between watching the New Zealand rugby, and our paddling!
Paddlers from Plett, Knysna, PE and lots of locals
We were pleased to host a number of Knysna and Plett paddlers, as well as the usual big group from PE. Surprisingly, very few East London paddlers this time, considering how well they usually support our events. And obviously plenty of locals. But we missed Andrew Bowren!
Well done
Huge well done to all the paddlers, 20km is a long way … and there are no downhills on this flat paddling course!
To put yesterday’s times into context, the winners effectively paddled our regular 10km time trail twice, in a super quick time of 44min 56sec for each 10km. The over 65 winners did 50min 53sec for each of their two 10kms, showing that the conditions were conducive to fast times.
Our races are sadly (but for good reason) only open to CSA registered paddlers, with the relevant proficiency level as well.
Video by Jane Arderne
The 90 sec video of the St Francis Bay 2024 Canals Winter Doubles Challenge features the start, a few clips of groups along the way, featuring some commentary by Raffy, and then the prize-giving.
Thank you’s
As always, lots of St Francis Paddling Club volunteers, thank you so much. Chairman Charlie Jonsson and his fine team. Also to braai master Frank Harpur who served complimentary boerie rolls and cokes. Pam Golding provided coffee and rusks before the race, and cold beers afterwards.
Huge thanks to the unsung heroes, the supporters, either at the event, or making it possible for us to paddle. Such a lekker day all in all. Just a pity about the drop kick at the end of the rugby game later in the day!
And of course thanks to Carbonology Sport for their R3500 lucky draw paddle (their 25th over the last ten years) and Rack & Paddle also for some wonderful prizes.
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Greg Louw and Hein van Rooyen at the start, already upfront
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Some mild chaos behind the front paddlers at the start
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The front four going under the Shore Road bridg
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Another bunch of paddlers at the Shore Road bridge
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Raffy supporting Team Pam Golding
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-2024 Pam Golding Properties Canals Winter Doubles Challenge Trophy winners Hein van Rooyen Greg Louw with local Pam Golding franchisee Richard Arderne
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The main race podium 2nd Matt Coetzer Liam Stephenson 1st Hein van Rooyen Greg Louw 3rd Tom Lovemore Kelvin Trautman with Richard Arderne Pam Golding
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The podium with some other doubles winners
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All the 2024 PGP CWDC doubles winners
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First ladies in the 20km race Nicola Harcus Georgia Stone with sponsor Richard Arderne
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20km over 65 winners Andrew Knight and Richard Arderne
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The 20km race results
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The short 10km race results
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The 2024 PGP CWDC winners
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Race briefing before the 9am start at the Cove
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Pete King at the prize-giving hoping to win some Pam Golding wine but prizes were only for doubles
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