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 24 March
2007, Auckland, New Zealand
The King of the Harbour, one of the most prestigious surf ski races in the international calendar, is a two-day event held on North Island, New Zealand. The results from the three-man relay event on day 1 are combined with the individual event on day 2 to compute the team and individual titles.
Day 1
Day 1 comprised a 7km time trial relay around buoys laid
in a triangular course off Takapuna
Beach. A 15-20km/h wind was blowing onshore.
"Add to the
sidewind/headwind/downwind combination the outgoing tide and current of about
3-4kms/h in some spots and the paddle is quite technical." commented Dawid
Mocke.
Teams
Top
paddlers from South Africa, New Zealand and Tahiti competed in three-man teams,
with individual times counting towards the overall event.
 SA A-team: Bevan Manson, Dawid Mocke, Darryl Bartho with Grant Heim (NZ) in front (Photo: Oscar Chalupsky)
South Africa was represented by Bevan Manson,
Darryl Bartho and Dawid Mocke; New
Zealand by Fred Tear, Mike Walker and Ben
Fouhy. Oscar Chalupsky joined an "over
40s" team while a squad from Tahiti was lead
by Lewis Laughlin.
Relay Race
The first
lap saw the Over 40s leading as Oscar Chalupsky took charge, leading Bevan
Manson by about 40 seconds. But Darryl
Bartho, taking up the second leg, paddled South Africa
into the lead followed closely by Olympic bronze medalist Ben Fouhy for New Zealand.
 Dawid & Oscar before the Day 1 relay (Photo: Oscar Chalupsky)
Dawid,
going third for South Africa
made sure of the win, with New
Zealand coming in second followed by the
Over 40s.
Individual Times
Dawid Mocke
took the fastest time of 29:29.
Mike Walker was 67 sec behind, Oscar Chalupsky another 15 sec further back with Darryl Bartho, Bevan
Manson, Paul Wlford and Fred Tear also in
contention.
With the
times from both days counting towards the event, Dawid goes into day 2 with a
huge advantage.
"I feel
that this kind of time trial format suited me as I can really crank it up over
such a short distance" said Dawid. "It's nice to go into the 2nd day with a 1
minute cushion, although anything can happen around that island tomorrow."
The Day 2
course takes the paddlers around Rangitoto
Island - through an area
notorious for tides and currents.
 Day 2 course - around Rangitoto Island
As Dawid
said, "It's going to be a dog fight out there as Mike and Ben really
know the water around that island and you can make 3-4 minutes in the blink of
an eye if you're not concentrating"
For full Day 1 results, click here
Stay tuned!
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