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McGregor demolishes Pirates

Durban - Hank McGregor's scintillating form in the Discovery Sunglass Hut Surfski Series continued on Sunday 12 June when he demolished the rest of the field in the CMH Toyota Pirates Umhlanga Pirates surfski race by over three and a half minutes.

With many of the top paddlers deciding to rest up before their final preparations for the Dunlop Surfski World Cup in two weeks' time it was up to Western Cape star Sean Rice to push the local ace, however four kilometers into the race and already the class of the local star started to show.

"It was unfortunately a bit boring out there on Sunday because the conditions were offshore the whole time so you'd work hard to get onto a run but by the time you caught the run it had already fizzled out," said McGregor.

"Sean came with me up front but I managed to break free after a couple of kilometers and so I just tried to work hard on my own."

"It's always great to get another win under the belt and keep the momentum going ahead of World Cup however the World Cup is very different story with it being a downwind," he added.

Rice, whose spent the past week getting some invaluable training in KZN waters, put in a far stronger performance compared to last week however even his best effort wasn't enough to stop McGregor.

"Overall I'm happy with how things went on Sunday. Obviously I would have loved to actually have been racing Hank (McGregor) however its sometimes a good thing to get beaten," said Rice. "To step out of what is familiar to you and expose yourself to what else is out there helps you realise just how fast fast really is!"

Clint Pretorius took another step forward from his performance last week after a prolonged period in the wilderness however finishing nearly thirteen minutes behind McGregor a lot of hard work still lies ahead in the next couple of weeks if he wants to be challenging for the title come 26 June.

"It was good to get some more mileage under the belt before World Cup but Hank's just in such great from at the moment so I guess I've just got to keep working hard and hope that conditions favour me on the day because if it is a true downwind then it could be anyone's game," said Pretorius.

In the ladies race it was once again Donna Winter who claimed the honours although this was by far her most difficult victory of the five she has secured thus far this series.

"I swam early on and lost my juice bottle in the surf so I knew I was going to be up against it from then on," said Winter. "I worked hard but I just completely blew a little way from the end."

"Unfortunately they weren't the greatest conditions today and things became particularly difficult when the wind really picked up with two kilometers to go," she added.

Robin Tindall and Richard Lowe put in a strong performance in the doubles race to claim the win ahead of brothers Nigel and Mike Stevens. In the short course category Malec Odendall claimed the singles race whilst the doubles race was won by Michael Elion and Gareth Dias.

Race seven of the series, the Island Tribe Scottburgh Surfski Classic, takes place on Sunday 19 June at 09:00 at Scottburgh main beach.
 
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