Graeme Solomon and Hank McGregor finished a dramatic first stage of the Isuzu Berg River Canoe Marathon together after the 62km first stage from Paarl to Zonquasdrift raced on a very full and rising Berg river that saw the stage record shattered.

With the torrential rains that have hammered the Cape Peninsula pounding the race all day, the duo covered the distance in a record breaking time of 3 hours and 45 minutes, after having shaken off Lance King and Heinrich Schloms in the latter stages of the tough stage.

The key break happened shortly before the SAD Bridge hotspot at Herman, where McGregor and Solomon staged a frantic sprint for the bridge, which resulted in Schloms falling and then King dropping back dramatically.

“I looked back and saw Lance (King) with his paddles down,” said Solomon. “Hank caught up and we worked hard together and we never saw the other guys again.”

King finished three minutes behind the two race leaders, in a bunch with Schloms and a strong finishing Veteran Donnie Malherbe.

“Three minutes is a long way back in a river that is flowing fast,” said Solomon. “But remember that all it takes is one swim, or one wrong channel and that can be erased very quickly.”

The women’s race was, however, dogged by controversy, after an eleventh hour rule change that barred the elite women from riding the slip waves of any male paddlers.

Abbey Miedema raced a flawless race to set up a four minute lead over seventeen year old Epworth schoolgirl Abie Adie, with local star Lindi-May Harmsen third, a further seven and a half minutes back.

Despite her solid lead, Miedema was fuming at the unexpected change of the established rule that allowed women to ride the slip waves of male paddlers that they are paddling with.

“I will never ever do this race again if they expect a female paddler to paddle 240km on her own,” said Miedema. “Every male paddler trains for this race knowing that it is all about paddling in bunches to get through the long stages, especially the 75km third day. Why now change it for the women?”

“If they want to go that route then it must be done well in advance of the race so that everyone knows about it and can decide whether or not they want to do that race, and then the women must start in their own batch,” said the three times winner of the women’s title.

“It also makes the incentive encouraging women to finish as close as possible to the men’s winner a mockery,” she added. “And, if they put a rule like this in place, then they must be able to enforce it, which I have my serious doubts about,” she added.

Solomon said that the heavy rains would make the third and fourth days tactically crucial to the outcome of the race, as the Berg river enters the flatter areas of the Swartland where it overflows into vleis and pans frequently, offering opportunities for paddlers that have done their homework to take important shortcuts, often through neighbouring farmlands.

“One wrong turn there and you could find yourself on a train to Hopeville,” said Solomon.

Solomon said that the full river provided or excellent racing conditions for the long first stage. “It’s all thanks to the new Berg Dam,” said Solomon. “If the dam had not been there it would have been a serious flood on the river and very dangerous. As it was it was not flooded, and there was no lottery stuff. The river was mostly in it’s banks.”

Solomon predicted that the relatively short 46km second stage from Zonquasdrift to Bridgetown would be raced at breakneck speed. “It will be hard and fast. Is there any other way with Hank (McGregor)!”

He also hinted that the team competition would come into play in an intriguing sub-plot to the race, as two of his team mates in Team Valued Added Life, Heinrich Schloms and Donnie Malherbe were paddling with youngster Lance King, who is part of Hank McGregor Team USN, along with PW Basson and Mynhardt Marais.

The 46km second stage from Zonquasdrift to Bridgetown starts at 9 a.m.