A massive field assembled for this Years Bridge to Beach event. Held against the stunning backdrop of Sydney Harbour and run in perfect March weather, paddlers of all ages and abilities took on the 11 kilometer challenge.

The first wave of paddlers takes off (Pic: Dean Gardiner)

Now dubbed the aquatic equivalent of "The City to Surf" the B to B takes competitors through a range of different conditions. Starting in the calm under Australia's most famous landmark (Harbour Bridge) and finishing in the rougher waters around Manly Cove, there is a part of this race for all competitors.

Not to gloat but a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that there are a few newcomers to ocean paddling here in Oz. While endeavoring to rustle a few SA feathers I was also honest in my opinion of how good these guys are.

Lining up - Opera House in background (Pic: Dean Gardiner)

Tim Jacobs

The standout in Australia over the last couple of years has been Tim Jacobs. Most guys have measured how well they have been going by how close they finished to Tim and on the rare occasion if they beat him, which hasn't happened a lot.

Over the weekend the Australian paddling fraternity was well and truly introduced to a pair of "freaks".  From the boat watching the race unfold between Tim, Jeremy Cotter and Caine Eckstein it was not only enthralling but exhausting.

And... they're off - looks like a black Epic or two on the right (Pic: Deano)

Early Break Away

This trio broke away from the rest of field early in the race to establish a classic match up between three great athletes. Tim took up the slack early in the race with Jez and Caine hanging on. After a couple of kilometers the trio exchange leads in one of the classic paddling battles.

Coming into the final third of the race Cotter and Eckstein made their move and put a three to four length gap on Jacobs. Working together the Gold Coast pair moved away from Jacobs who had to slug it out in his own water by himself.

Cotter v Eckstein

In the closing stages the under-rated Eckstein then dropped Cotter to take the lead. Clawing his way back wash by wash Cotter was back alongside Eckstein with a kilometer to go. With his momentum Cotter then put a length into his training buddy hitting the beach 15 meters in front and taking his first B to B title.

What made this race special for Cotter and Eckstein was they had raced over 22k on the Sunshine Coast the day before cleaning up a quality field at the Noosa Surf Festival with the same result.

Cotter is the first to admit that it won't be long before Eckstein is taking his place atop the ocean paddling dais. After relegating his good mate to second on two occasions, Cotter knows it is only a matter of time.

Daniele Scarpa

Italian kayaking superstar Daniele Scarpa mixed it up with some of the best that Australian ocean paddling has to offer. Known in paddling circles as the "Venetian love god" Scarpa paddled his way into fifth spot, only to be run down on the beach, finishing a creditable sixth overall and first over forty.

Scarpa is in Australia training for another Olympic campaign and trying to add to his already impressive Olympic medal tally.

Yep - there are those who swim it... (Pic: Deano)

Dave Kissane & Brett Tyack - swimmers extraordinary

Speaking of love gods one who is not known as a love god Dave Kissane opted to swim the B to B this year with former ironman champ Brett Tyack. Yes, we also have swimmers doing this race.  While many tackle the 10.5k solo, Kissane and Tyack opted for the softer team relay option where they change from the ski.

Dave Kissane & Brett Tyack - opting to swim (Pic: Deano)

New Zealand King of the Harbour

Cotter Eckstein and Jacobs will be at it again in couple of weeks when they race the King of the Harbour event in NZ.  When you look at the other good paddlers that will also be making the trip to NZ, we should be in for a pretty good race over there also.

Yarra Bay Challenge

Next week the Yarra Bay Challenge will take place in Sydney. The race will be run over a 14 kilometer out and back course. It's been a long time since we've had a race in Botany Bay and the guys from Maroubra have put some pretty decent prize money into the race.

See ya

Deano

Top 40 places courtesy of MultiSport Australia

Comments (11)

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written by Joe, March 12, 2008

deano...any link and/or times for the top 20 or so...love to see how the boys sorted themselves out.

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Results
written by Rob Mousley, March 12, 2008

There ya go Glick - top 40!
The rest of the results can be found at: http://admin.eventdirector.net...ageID=4942

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written by Stewart, March 13, 2008

Looked like a really good race, watching from the prom in Manly. Beautiful weather and big numbers, was awesome.


Well done to everyone who took part, that last slog up the soft sand didn't look too easy!

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written by superted, March 14, 2008

Congrats to Dede being the first female home.

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written by Ben Hines, March 17, 2008

Could this be a changing of the guard?

Timmy toppled twice in two weeks? Bridge to beach by a large margin.

I reckon that Cotter and Eickstein would have taken any of the big name Saffas that day. Machines....absolute machines.

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written by Ben Hines, March 17, 2008

It's late here and I may have this wrong but 11k's in 41.39mins is.......

Averaging 16KPH?

On flat water for over 40mins maintaining that pace is going to hurt a bit!!

What are the chances of Mocke, Chalupsky or MacGregor topping that?

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written by Eddie Stafford, March 17, 2008

Is there a list of the ski's that the paddlers were using?

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written by Stewart, March 18, 2008

Jeremy and Caine we simply awesome in the Bridge to Beach. They destroyed the field. The time they did the 11km in was freaky.

Probably not two fitter paddlers going around, both have a massive background in iron man racing and it shows in their ski paddling.

Going to be interesting to see how they go later in the year against the Saffas. At this stage, no one is Oz is going to challenge them as far as I can see.

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List of skis
written by James Shortis, March 18, 2008

Jeremy and Caine winning had nothing to do with the fact that they?re some of the best athletes in the sport in Oz - It was all the boat they were using

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written by Caine Eckstein, March 18, 2008

True Timmy has been beaten in his last two races but when I heard he paddled 25km to the race last weekend then placed second I was pretty impressed. So I'm sure he's going to be at the pointy end of the field when it comes time to go in NZ and the other world cups later in the year. Which will be great to push all us other aussie paddlers!

And I would be the first to say that I am a newbie to ocean ski's and I am a massive supporter of Fenn and love paddling my Mako 6!! But I was totally unaware that it was all the boat that got us across the line @ the B2B and didn't factor in the fact that Jeremy and myself spend hours each week on the water killing each other trying to play 6 inches!

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written by Stewart, March 18, 2008

Timmy paddled 25km to the race? Well that changes the perspective on Saturday's race.


Will be great to watch these guys all race each other fresh. When's the next big race where they all go head to head? King of the Harbour?

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