It’s a family affair for Hank and Pippa McGregor at Breede marathon

Hank and Pippa McGregor became the first husband and wife to win the Breede River Canoe Marathon in the same year on Sunday when they wrapped up their respective titles, Hank McGregor romping to victory with Jasper Mocké overall and Pippa McGregor and Jenna Nisbet winning the women’s title convincingly.

Hank McGregor and Mocké added a further minute to their 4 min overnight lead to complete the 34km final stage from Riggton Farm outside Bonnievale to Kam’Bati Resort near Swellendam on a technical low and dropping Breede River.

“It was a super tricky day because the water was so low — I don’t think we could have paddled on it any lower — but we didn’t have to get out anywhere,” said Mocké.

“We found a good rhythm once again and I think we were very happy to be on our own because the end section was very tricky with all the little channels and trees, so it was a luxury to be coming through there on our own as opposed to racing in a bunch,” said Mocké.

“We sliced the boat open so we were leaking quite a bit of water,” added McGregor. “Jasper was pumping water out of the boat quite a lot, but we managed to get to the finish in the lead.

“It was a great weekend in the Breede Valley. Now we can look forward to the world champs in a couple of weeks’ time,” he said.

It was a fourth Breede title for McGregor, who won it twice with Len Jenkins, and once with Jasper Mocké’s older brother, Dawid, while it was Jasper Mocké’s third Breede title after his wins with Tom Schilperoort and Stu Maclaren.

Clint Cook and Tom Lovemore were once again the fastest of the chasing bunch and wrapped up second place overall, while Graeme Solomon and Anders Hart leapfrogged onto the podium from their overnight fifth position.

In the women’s race, the irrepressible Durbanites Jenna Nisbett and Pippa McGregor made the most of the race as part of their training for the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships, pulling away to win from the impressive juniors Holly Smith and Neriyah Dill in second.

• SA’s premier marathon paddler, Hamish Lovemore, added a sprint world championship bronze to his growing list of achievements in the Under-23 men’s 5,000m final in Szeged, Hungary, on Sunday.

Lovemore showed his strong form before the forthcoming ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships.

His goal was the overall win, however things didn’t go quite his way through the race but he did well to finish on the podium and earn a first Under-23 men’s medal at the sprint world championships.

“I was a bit disappointed but I had to make a race of it,” Lovemore said. “I missed the buoy on the third lap and I had to burn all my energy to catch up, but that’s how it goes.”