Not all years we get lucky with the weather in April. This time the harsh wind and cold temperatures put it’s mark on the race. The track record time has not been beaten, the record held by Sean Rice was missed by nearly two minutes.
A new feature of this years race was two separate mass-starts, with the junior men, senior women and masters men starting first, followed by a second mass-start with just the senior men. For the latter the start proved to be a challenge, with a huge false start in the senior men race. Many paddlers started their race before the official signal, resulting in a 500 meter false start that had to be cut off, by Edwin, in a boat.
The restart followed as soon as all the paddlers made it back tot he start line. Not all paddlers had a succesful start. As Barry Hazenoot said “It was kut. I teared my boat up, right after the start”.
Because of the new start format it was hard to track where the leading pack was, the senior women finished in front of the senior men. It was a mix of race classes at the finish line.
The masters men were happy with the new format. Filipe Pereira said after the race “I’m very happy with my race, I probably reached the top 10 (he did!). The start was good, just some quick ladies and top junior guys I couldn’t keep up with.”
In the end the Mads Brand Pedersen took a sprint to beat Leonel Ramalho and Sean Rice right before the finish line.
In the senior women race Zsofi Czellai-Voros took the most advantage of the mixed start with the master men. She led the womens race and finished with a big time difference to Lizzie Broughton and Lili Katona.
The masters men is won by Emeric Petot, a minute ahead of Ronny Meisner in second place, with Guy de Prins finishing third.
The junior men did well in the new format of the long distance, wit Ory Zsombor finishing two minutes ahead of the masters men, with a time close of 1.41.28. This would have given him a 9th place overall in the senior men race.
In the short official junior women race, Lea Marchand took the gold medal, just before Aine White and local hero Iris van Bommel.
All of this has been made possible by the generous contribution of our sponsors: De Coogh Funderingstechnieken, Kanocentrum Arjan Bloem and Nelo Kayaks.
Another big thanks for our event suppliers Orange Rental, Gomes, Red Bull and Vaikobi Ocean Performance.
Save the date for next years race: 18th of april 2020
The official results are available here.
