The 2016 Starboard Zinkwazi 10km SUP Race is now in it’s 6th Year. This year we were blown away by an exceptional attendance with more than 50 contestants finishing the race and therefore making it South Africa’s largest SUPSA sanctioned Stand Up Paddling Race ever held.
A beautiful sunny morning it was and contestants from all provinces around South Africa including Gauteng, Western Cape, Mpumalang and Kwazulu-Natal had travelled from far to be there on the day.
Registration started at 8am, the Race Briefing around 8:40 and Race start at 9:00. With the blowing of the horn, the race was underway and Dylan Frick and Chris Couve were quick out of the starting blocks to set a frighteningly fast early pace. The women started a minute behind the men as per SUPSA rules and here Jackie, Lande and Charlotte exploded off the starting line.
Chris Couve (Starboard) blasts off the start line to take the lead early on | Photo Creds: Bruce Chrystal
Dylan Frick (Starboard) leads the mens train through the first lap | Pic Creds: Scott Elliott
The first 2.4 kms to the first buoy are always super tough as contestants attempt to catch on to a suiteable draft train that will allow them to settle their racing heart-rates and find a rythm within the race.
Amongst the men, Chris and Dylan were setting the pace with Gunter on their draft and Rory from Cape Town leading the second draft train working hard to close the gap. Further along the field we had Grantley Read, the Zinkwazi local legend, Kimon and Charles from Cape Town, Darryl Bartho, Brandon Read, Shayne and Nick from Durban all putting in a massive effort to keep up the pace.
The top three ladies, Charlotte, Jackie and Lande had to race strategically as injuries and illness had affected all of their fitness level and therefore raw endurance strength wasn’t something to bet on.
in the ladies race it was a heated battle throughout the race – Jax leads Charlotte and Lande into the top buoy turn
Dylan was the first to make a 180 degree clock-wise turn around the first buoy, after which he applied is usual strategy to put in a hard interval coming straight out of the turn. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to shake Chris nor Gunter off and Rory also had now joined the leading pack.
The first buoy turn always helps to shake up the racing packs and here the more skillful racers have an opportunity to whip their boards around the buoy and shoot out of the turn in order to open up gaps.
A slight offshore breeze had now come up, which the contestants felt supporting them on their route back towards the beach. A new addition to the race was a chicane on the beach where contestants had to beach their boards, grab them and together with their paddles run along the chicane for a short 30m over the beach sand and then leap back in to the water. This really is exciting and mixing the racing up a lot and has been put in place to be more in line with international racing format standards.
Bruce Renken (Starboard) takes time out to enjoy the scenery | Pic Creds: Scott Elliott
The second half of the race followed the same path as the first half with positions amongst the contestants remaining quite consistent. Amongst the Men, Anton Nel from Johannesburg had found a comfort zone paddling up against the wind and managed to real in a few places and close the gap to Grantley Read. Corne Rossouw from Johannesburg was continuously being challenged throughout the race by Capetonian 12 year old Juniour Cameron Tripney, who was putting in a star performance and showing the grown ups what they can expect in the years to come. Heading up towards the final buoy turn the contestants new that this would be there last opportunity to rattle the field. Dylan once again was first to turn, followed by Chris, then Rory, then Gunter. The second pack was being led by Kimon, then Charles and Darryl. The 3 top ladies were taking turns at the pole. The last 2km towards the beach and the finish line had Dylan put in a massive interval that managed to shake off Rory and Gunter. Chris however hung on all the way to the shore and now it was only the final sprint that would determine the winner. Some wake from a nearby boat unsettled Chris, Dylan took full advantage of this and was the first to get his foot on to sand for the final sprint through to the finish line ~ taking the Men’s title. Chris unlucky but proud on his second place came through the finish line only split seconds after Dylan. Rory from Cape Town took third place and Gunter from Johannesburg fourth. Followed By Charles and Kimon from Cape Town.
Chris Couve and Dylan Frick’s Starboard Sprints loose a little paint for the final beach sprint finish to the line
Check out a replay of the 2016 Starboard Zinkwazi 10km SUP Race finish line, brought to you by Your SUP Life:
The Ladies finish was as exciting with Jackie (F One), Lande (F One) and Charlotte (Starboard) fighting it out for first place. Lande managed to beach first and sprint through the finish coming in split-seconds before Jackie and Charlotte. So a very stoked Lande becomes this years ladies winner followed by Jackie and then newcomer Charlotte.
12 Year old Cameron Tripney (Coreban), a future potential racing champion, took the boys Junior title and Karisa Grace the Girls junior title. Legends Rory (Mistral), Brandon and Grantley Read (Starboard) showed all the youngsters that experience and years of training can be as effective as raw youth brawn.
Junior Boys Winner Cam Tripney (Coreban) showing the us how buoy turns should be done | Pic Creds: Scott Elliott
Thanks to our sponsor Starboard SUP South Africa for sponsoring cash, prizes, awesome Starboard Tiki rash vests and refreshing water at the finish line. A massive thank you to Chris Couve for his all help in marketing and organising the event and thanks to Robbie Couve, our Race and Safety Director as well as a massive thank you to Ingrid Dippenaar for running the admin side of things as well as managing the time-keeping. We also had Erica from the local newspaper The North Coast Courier taking photos as well as Scott Elliot, Jon & Morgan Irvins, Anna-Marie Frick and Shelly Nel also were taking photos and videos. And most of all thanks to all participants for making this event, South Africa’s largest and most successful SUP race in South African history. We’re looking forward to next year event already!
2016 Starboard 10Km Zinkwazi Race Report ~ by Gunter Burger | Pic Credits: Scott Elliott
Download the High Res Images from the Dropbox folder here…
Preliminary Overall Race Results (results by age category to be released shortly):
Flatwater course ~9.4km with 3 turns, no wind.
| Position | Time | Name | Gender | Category |
| 1 | 0:59:20 | Dylan Frick | Male | Open Mens |
| 2 | 0:59:22 | Chris Couve | Male | Open Mens |
| 3 | 0:59:38 | Rory Smith | Male | Open Mens |
| 4 | 1:00:00 | Gunter Berger | Male | Open Mens |
| 5 | 1:00:34 | Charles Higgins | Male | Open Mens |
| 6 | 1:00:48 | Kimon dos Santos | Male | Open Mens |
| 7 | 1:00:54 | Brandon Read | Male | Open Mens |
| 8 | 1:01:00 | Daryl Bartho | Male | Open Mens |
| 9 | 1:02:01 | Shayne Chipps | Male | Open Mens |
| 10 | 1:02:24 | Nick Park-Ross | Male | Open Mens |
| 11 | 1:02:48 | Grantley Read | Male | Open Mens |
| 12 | 1:03:30 | Anton Nel | Male | Open Mens |
| 13 | 1:03:41 | Robbie de Billot | Male | Open Mens |
| 14 | 1:04:30 | Thulani Nzamo | Male | Open Mens |
| 15 | 1:04:56 | Guy Bubb | Male | Open Mens |
| 16 | 1:07:35 | Corne Rossouw | Male | Open Mens |
| 17 | 1:07:36 | Cameron Tripney | Male | Jnr Boys |
| 18 | 1:07:46 | Brendon Germaine | Male | Open Mens |
| 19 | 1:07:51 | Wayne Drulan | Male | Open Mens |
| 20 | 1:08:55 | John Bray | Male | Open Mens |
| 21 | 1:09:00 | Lande Williamson | Female | Open Ladies |
| 22 | 1:09:03 | Jackie de Billot | Female | Open Ladies |
| 23 | 1:09:04 | Charlotte Atherton | Female | Open Ladies |
| 24 | 1:09:25 | Kyle Chrystal | Male | Jnr Boys |
| 25 | 1:10:25 | Craig Girdlestone | Male | Open Mens |
| 26 | 1:11:05 | Jon Ivins | Male | Open Mens |
| 27 | 1:12:00 | Alan Wallace | Male | Open Mens |
| 28 | 1:13:06 | Daniel Lubanyana | Male | Open Mens |
| 29 | 1:14:03 | Andrew Mayes | Male | Open Mens |
| 30 | 1:14:08 | Steve Hean | Male | Open Mens |
| 31 | 1:14:43 | Dean Bottcher | Male | Open Mens |
| 32 | 1:14:52 | Rich Prangley | Male | Open Mens |
| 33 | 1:14:54 | Shannon Clark | Male | Open Mens |
| 34 | 1:14:57 | Bart Nieuwoudt | Male | Open Mens |
| 35 | 1:15:54 | Nick Bradley | Male | Open Mens |
| 36 | 1:16:10 | Deon Bosman | Male | Open Mens |
| 37 | 1:17:04 | Levi Mayes | Male | Jnr Boys |
| 38 | 1:17:45 | Brian Roberts | Male | Open Mens |
| 39 | 1:17:48 | Jolene Harris | Female | Open Ladies |
| 40 | 1:18:06 | Bruce Rencken | Male | Open Mens |
| 41 | 1:18:20 | Steven Tripney | Male | Open Mens |
| 42 | 1:18:35 | Liza Simone Kimble | Female | Open Ladies |
| 43 | 1:19:52 | Alison Taczalo | Female | Open Ladies |
| 44 | 1:21:14 | Gareth Botha | Male | Open Mens |
| 45 | 1:21:51 | Gareth Daniel Art | Male | Open Mens |
| 46 | 1:25:49 | Alan Marnitz | Male | Open Mens |
| 47 | 1:26:09 | Karisa Grace | Female | Jnr Girls |
| 48 | 1:26:10 | Roxanne Bray | Female | Open Ladies |
| 49 | 1:27:43 | Werner van Molendorff | Male | Open Mens |
| 50 | 1:30:17 | Keagan Nel | Male | Jnr Boys |
| 51 | 1:31:01 | Dave Marriner | Male | Open Mens |
| 52 | 1:39:32 | Mark Roe | Male | Open Mens |
| 53 | Did not finish | Rob van Tricht | Male | Open Mens |
| 54 | Did not finish | Hunter van Tricht | Male | Jnr Boys |
| 55 | Did not finish | Kelly Kemp | Female | Open Ladies |
Trackbacks/Pingbacks