Cape Point Challenge 2013

Cape Point Challenge is one of those races that every ski paddler needs to do.
There is nothing easy about it,if there is any wind it means you have to go into it at some stage as the course is normally from the west coast of Cape Of Good Hope (Atlantic sea) to the East coast (Indian Ocean )
This year the race committee had to change the course as the swell was to big and meant it would be too dangerous to paddle on the west coast ,we had to paddle inside False Bay starting from Simon s Town to Cape Point and back.
This meant we were exposed to 25 km of headwind with no shelter then turning at Cape Point for the downwind leg home.

                                                                       Cape Point
There was a Big bunch of paddlers in A Batch at the start with the same race plan " Sit on tail slip as long as possible to conserve your energy levels for the downwind leg "

                                                 Start of Cape Point Challenge 2013 A Batch

Coach Lee started with A Batch along side Hank .
Last Time they raced together here was 1995 defending their title from 1993

                                                            Coach Lee Ready To Go

Headwind Leg was tough ,cold ,windy and of course Sharky

                                            Hank pushing the pace with Jasper & Sean

                                              Turn Mark at Cape Point ,Hank turns first

                                                      Surf Time on Downwind Leg


Hank had a great downwind Leg home back to Fish Hoek Finish to win overall in 3 hours 41
Coach Lee finished 16th in the singles and won the masters having the fastest Vet time as well.

                                             Win # 4 for Hank in the singles category

Cape town Downwind Race 2013

Yesterday was the Cape Town Downwind Race 2013 .
It was fantastic conditions for downwind racing.
At the front of the race it was a 3 way tussle between Hank ,Jasper and Dawid .
They traded runs right to the end with Jasper taking the win from Hank and then Dawid .

                                                           Hank Finished a Close 2nd

                                                     Coach Lee Winning the Masters 

Hank Making of a legend

More photographs from Denmark!!!

 

 

That's the spirit.....................

 

 

Calvin McKie

 

 

K2 Juniors - practising the perfect style...

 

Allan Hold, our flower child

 K2 - First is first!



Congratulations Allan Hold & Lee McGregor!



 

World Marathon Canoeing Champs in Denmark - watch this space....

Lily & Lindton: Smile!!

 Some shots of our

MAC Squad members

 in Denmark

Bruce, gazing into the distance...

Lee racing...

Lee & Hank, good invention those binis...

Linton on the go, go, go...

Coach with Kerry & Jenna

And our first silver medal winner is: Allan Hold!!! Bravo, what a race!

Great hat!

Masters K1: 1,2 & 3

World Marathon Champs Sweden

1 minute to the finish - 4 minutes ahead of the next paddler!

World Champion.

Its not if we win, its when and how we win!

3 days to go!

First of all, congratulations to everyone, we made it!

My old saying, if not now, hen when, is here again.

Congratulations to Will Kerr for loosing 51 kg, averaging 2 kg a week.
To Keagan 7 kg in 11 days.
Thea, 9.6 kg
Chocolate 9.6 kg

See you on the water

Coach

Sunday, 11th August 2013

Hi all!

Congratulations to everyone in the Squad!

What a sunday.

Macsquad sure dominated the medals and the cash.

The Mc Gregors need some lessons in getting into the skis....

Coach falling out at the start of teh double ski race and Hank falling out at the start of the knock-out final.

We both won. Me, thanks to my partner, Allan Hold, not giving up!

As for the girls,  

Michelle, Danica, Jenna    =    1        2        3

Now for this weekend 72 km with no wind forecast, a tough one coming.

Well done to all of you.

Less than 1 month to Denmark and the Fish.

Coach

Avon Decsent

MacSquad Member Hank McGregor retained his title for the 4th year in a row.Tough conditions,not much water and a long 2nd ( 75 km) day.
Other Squad Member Josh Kippin finished a solid 3rd ,Congrats,looks like training program is working well.

                                                         Hank at Bells Rapid (Avon 2013)

                                    Josh Kippin (in the middle with white helmet shooting first weir )

Scottburgh to Brighton

Hi guys!

Congratulations to everyone that did the race last weekend. What a challenge!
Most of you ended somewhere between 4 and 5 hours.

To see you all afterwards, broken, made me proud.

Cant get better results than 

1st & 2nd Men

1st & 2nd Women

1st Mixed Doubles

1st Under 18

1st Under 23

Special congrats to Thea v.d. Westhuizen and Lauren Felgate (Chocolate)!

What an exciting finish after 5 hours between you two.

See you all on the water

Coach

Maurituis Surfski Cup;World Surfski Portugal & Berg River Canoe Marathon

Wow a Big couple of races have come and gone over the last couple of weeks.
Success and disappointment are all part of racing .

Mauritius Surf ski Cup MacSquad members Hank  & Grant finished a creditable 2nd and 9th ( Grant taking a swim coming into the finish )

                                             Hank Catching some Waves on training Paddle

                                                         Hank Finishing 2nd

                                                         Grant taking a Swim

Berg River Marathon

Coach Lee and Squad member Jenna Ward took on the mighty Beast Berg River Marathon and came back with the Coach defying the age factor at 61 yrs finished 8th overall !!! Unreal performance.
Jenna Ward brought home the Queen of the Berg title for 2013 ,her first major Senior title .

                                                  Coach Lee Finished 8th Overall !!!

                                                      Jenna Ward New Queen Of The Berg

World Surf ski  Champs in Portugal

Many of the squad members represented SA in Portugal and brought back Medals by the bag full.
Grant and Brandon finished 5th & 10th overall and took the Under 23 Gold and Silver medals.
Hank finished 7th and bronze in sub vets.
Michelle Burn finished a close 2nd in woman's race after racing to the wrong finish can but super strong race from her.
Thea came home with a Bronze in Sub Vets and showing us how commitment to training has paid off!

                                                    Brothers Bring Home the Medals

                                         Hank Pushed the pace Early But finished 7th in the end

                                                                   Thea Gets Bronze

In the Doubles race the following Day

Hank & Grant took the overall title with Thea pulling Off a Medal in woman's doubles race.

Overall MacSquad members showed there stuff all over the Globe .
Until The Next time.

See you on the Water

    

Kelly Biljoen & Nicole Smith

Hi guys

 

Congratulations to Kelly & Nicole for making the under 18 K2 to represent South Africa in Denmark.

 

We are all very proud of you but I am sure not as proud as your parents.

 

See you on the water tomorrow.

 

Coach

Media Release 28th June 2013

Master Lee Mc Gregor sets his sights on 2013 Berg
Cape Town – With his son and defending champion Hank McGregor conspicuously absent from this year's Berg River Canoe Marathon that starts in Paarl on 10 July, 61 year old Lee McGregor has stepped into the breach and plans to make full use of the uncluttered opportunity to make his mark.

"When Hank was younger I did a few Bergs with him, and there was always that feeling that I was just there to help Hank," says McGregor. "Now that Hank is not racing this year, it gives me freedom to race my own race and have some fun."

McGregor showed just what sort of form he is in at the recent Swartland Canoe Marathon, when he finished seventh, easily winning his Grand Master class and closing in on winning Under 23 Ivan Kruger.

"The Swartland was fun but I had to start in C batch, and I worked my way through the field. But that meant I was basically time trialling the race on my own, I hardly ever settled into a bunch!" said McGregor.

He is studiously avoiding the issue, but based on his Swartland result the 61 year old is poised to rewrite the record books if he can finish in the top ten overall, as a paddler over 50 years of age has never finished in the top ten of the tough four day 220km race from Paarl to the West Coast.

Andre Collins finished 20th when he was 51 years old and then improved on his own record by finishing 16th when he was 54 years old.

Gauteng powerhouse Graham Monteith did even better by finishing 14th when he was 53 years old and again improved on his own record by finishing 11th when he was 54 years old. But no paddler older than 50 has ever raced into the top ten.

"If you take his seventh position on the Swartland he will most probably be the first over 60 paddler to reach the top 20 on Berg this year and there is even an outside chance for top ten!" said stalwart statistician Giel van Deventer, also the joint record holder for most Bergs completed. "The man is just amazing."

Icon Nollie Meiring won the first ever Berg at 44 years of age, and to this day remains the only veteran (or over 40 years of age) paddler to win the race.

McGregor had been based in the US and flew home on the spur of the moment after getting a phone call from his son asking him to return to Durban.

"I didn't hesitate," says Lee McGregor, who was also a highly successful international swimmer and surf lifesaver. "It felt like it was time to put something back and to help where I can."

He has been spending long hours training paddlers at Blue Lagoon in Durban, before heading down to the Western Cape once again to settle in ahead of his Berg 29013 campaign.

McGregor started his Berg career while he was still living in Cape Town, and his son began paddling inspired by watching his father's efforts on the river. However this will only be McGregor's fifth Berg Marathon.

The Berg River Canoe marathon starts in Paarl on 10 July and ends at Velddrif on 13 July.

Congratulations Calvin!

Congratulations to Calvin Mc Kie for being selected yesterday to represent SA under 18 in Denmark at World Marathon Champs!

We now have 11 paddlers from MacSquad heading for Denmark.

Natal Surfski Champs 2013

Hi all!

35 podium finishes for the MacSquad.

And that´s without Grant (in Mauritius) and Brandon (in Cape Town) and Hank (seconding Pippa on Sunday).

No point in congratulating any of you personally. You all did your best and that is what it is all about. Congratulations to you all.

The coach is taking swimming lessons today...

But this week´s training must be harder than last week´s. If not this week, then which week? So, let´s make it happen, not watch it happen and one day wonder what could have happened.

Only a few more days of heavy training before we all go our separate ways in search for Gold:

Mauritius

Portugal

Cape Town

 

 

"FREE SURFSKI CLINIC" Hosted by Barry Lewin Surfski School and Hank McGregor MACSQUAD

On Saturday 15th a Free Surf ski Clinic was held by Barry Lewin ( Surf ski School) and Hank McGregor from ( Macsquad) to help encourage New paddlers and current when it comes to Surf Skills & Style and any Questions that maybe we could help answer.

The Clinic was run in conjunction with The Bay Union Winter Series Races .

It was a fantastic Day out and hopefully we helped everyone who was there to learn some new tricks of the trade .
Only the next race will tell once the theory has been put into practice!!

See You on the water.

SA K1 River Champs 2013

Press Release Western Cape Canoe Union
18th June 2013


One of the outstanding paddles of the day though, went to Stella Canoe Clubs (KZN) Lee McGregor. McGregor, a Grandmaster (i.e. 60 - 64 years), starting in 'C' batch, powered away to catch and pass all of those paddlers in 'B' batch and work his way into the 'A' batch paddler's to come home in 2:39:14 to record 9th place overall, an excellent result especially as he paddled alone for virtually the entire day.
Again on Day 2, Grandmaster Lee McGregor made inroads into the ranks of the 'youngsters' around him to record an excellent time of 3:09:19 to finish 7th overall with the time of 5:48:33. Any finishing time under 6 hours for this event is a top-rated one and so now the question everyone must be asking, will he be racing the 2013 Berg? Because of he does, another McGregor could well be re-writing some of the records in this iconic race!

Lee McGregor Catching 2nd Bunch on his own.

Lee McGregor on his way to finish 7th overall in SA K1 

Swartland Marathon Champs

News from the Cape!

Coach Lee pulled off a 7th overall in #Swartlands SA K1 Champs.

Well done Coach we are proud of you.#SolidResult @ 61 yrs

Pirates - Umhlanga - Pirates Surfski Race - 8th June 2013

12 of the Squad on the podium - what else could the Squad want!

Another great day for the Mac Squad!

With a 10 to 15 knot offshore sidewind there and back, a 24 kms slog, great training for Portugal and the Berg. Well done Squad.
Easy off tomorrow and see you all on monday.

Coach
P.S. After 2,5 hours what terrible styles I saw... Ha ha.

Mac Squad gets 18 medals at SA Marathon Champs

Congratulations to the team!

I saw lots of hurt, pain and agony, but we all had one thing: GRIT. Proud of you all.
We made mistakes, too many. We can´t afford it. 3 months to get it right before Worlds in Denmark. Plenty of time.
So back to the drawingboard. To pour the concrete. Some of us are getting ready for The Berg, others Portugal, Sprint trials coming and the rest for their big picture.
Major races, major committment, major focus. So lets do it!
 If not right now, then when?
See you on the water,

Coach

Brandon under pressure

Clinton with flu

Grant full stretch

Hank in focus

Irwin looking relaxed

Lauren in control of the portage

Linton blowing

Calvin determination

Casual Travis

Gold

Good timing Coach

Jen getting cool

Tristan & Dad - pressure

Lyall in rythm

The Start