Chicago Shoreline Marathon – Dawid Mocke Wins Again

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Saturday, 04 September 2010  |  Written by Rob Mousley

Dawid Mocke - fuels up before the race Credits: Scott Fincher www.scottfincher.com

The Problem – Mayor’s Cup

There was a problem though, which manifested itself during the New York Mayor’s Cup – a high profile 28mi/45km race around Manhattan Island.  The lead group of Mocke, fellow South African Sean Rice and super-fit Aussie Ironman Caine Eckstein were paddling in a bunch with Olympians Greg Barton (USA) and Philippe Boccara (USA) when Eckstein broke away.  Sean Rice answered the challenge but Mocke seemed flat footed as the younger pair literally paddled away from him.  Minutes later Mocke found himself on the wrong side of a commuter ferry, having to wait while the vessel manoeuvred out of its dock.  Game over.

Afterwards, Mocke said he was over confident – and “knew” that he would be the setting pace.  “I expected that we’d paddle as a bunch and at about 10km from the finish, I’d accelerate and drop the rest of the bunch.”

When Eckstein made his move, Mocke found himself unprepared.  Initially he thought he’d stick with his game plan – but the whole game had changed.  “I wasn’t ready to adapt my plan to the new circumstances,” he admitted.

“It was a great wake-up call,” he added.  “You have to realise that the younger paddlers have no ‘respect’ for greater experience, they just go for it, with their own race plan.  It’s a wonderful comment on the maturity of the racing that any one of a number of paddlers could win these races.”

“My problem was one of arrogance – I assumed I’d be leading the way!” he said.

Mocke came in third behind a victorious Sean Rice who beat Caine Eckstein convincingly into second place.

US Surfski Champs

Mocke used the wake-up call to great effect the following weekend in San Francisco.  The race was extremely tight, with three contenders trading places almost to the end after a magnificent 14km downwind duel.  Making no mistakes, Mocke beat Aussies Shannon Eckstein (Caine’s older brother) and Jeremy Cotter who ended up 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.  Sean Rice came in 4^th.

Chicago Shoreline Marathon

Mocke went into the CSM unbeaten in the 40km race.  He’s paddled it twice before – but this time had his bête noir in the field, Jeremy Cotter.  Before San Francisco, Cotter and Mocke had met seven times – and Cotter was 5-2 up.  The previous time they’d met – at the Perth Doctor in January, Mocke had narrowly beaten Cotter.  After the US Champs, the score was 5-3.

Although there was a second Aussie at the CSM, Mark Anderson, the race was always going to be a two-horse affair – and Cotter would be gunning for Mocke after his defeat in San Francisco.

Jeremy Cotter and Dawid Mocke paddling together past the spectacular city waterfront

The CSM is a marathon, dude!

Both men are famous for rocketing away from the start; neither likes a waiting game and both prefer to be in the lead.  According to information received(!), Cotter believes Mocke can be broken – get far enough ahead of him and he’ll be mentally defeated.  He won’t come back.

Unlike the previous two years when the wind has either been absent (in 2008 the race was a hot, flat slog) or blowing from the wrong direction (in 2009 the race course was an out and back, downwind and then upwind), this year a brisk 15kt southerly sprang up – making for the ideal downwind situation.

But when Cotter leapt straight into overdrive from the start line, Mocke let him go.  “It’s a long race,” he said, “and I know what it’s like!”

Conditions

“The conditions change quite a lot during the race,” said Mocke.  “The wind was causing white-capping waves for a while – and between the first two stops the runs were great.

“After that though, for quite a while it was just messy slop – waves rebounding off the shore.

“From the fourth stop at Montrose Beach it started lining up again and there were nice runs into the finish.”

“Never gave up”

“I caught up with Jeremy at the second stop at 12^th street – about half way – and we paddled more or less together for a while although he took a shallower line than I did.”

"This shot sums up the race," said photographer Scott Fincher - Dawid Mocke pases Jeremy Cotter near 12th Street

Another couple of miles later, Mocke put in a burn and Cotter dropped back.  “I kept looking back and he was going for it,” said Mocke.

Mocke won by 1:22 in a total time of 2:45:37.  Cotter leads 5-4.  The two men face-off again next weekend in Mauritius.

Mocke leaves starts the final leg to the finish

Women’s Race

DeAnne Hemmens won the women’s race, but found the going hard.

“When you’ve only trained 20km, 40km is massive,” she said.  “The first 20km really great with a nice tail wind and small easy bumps...”

But the “slip-slop off Navy Pier” and the lack of training was a painful combination.

“I tried to crack a smile for the photographer near the last 6km...there was a small downwind there, but really, I don't remember!” She said.  Hemmens finished in a time of 3:50:08.

“Don't get me wrong, this was a great race.....but if you don't train for 40 km, after 20km it doesn't get any easier.”

DeAnne Hemmens

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