Graham Bird is one of the leading figures in South Africa’s adventure racing world. He has been involved in the sport since 1986, and has been one of South Africa’s top canoeists since the early Nineties. Graham now focuses his energies on competing in adventure racing, trail running, mountain biking, canoeing, and multisport events around the country. He is also the leader of one of the world’s top adventure racing teams, the Merrell Adventure Addicts.
Tag Archives | paddling
Team Cyanosis: nine winning lessons from Expedición Guaraní
Clinton Mackintosh shares more about their victory in Paraguay and offers useful tips for South African adventurers.
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Start adventure racing
Adventure racing is the ultimate race of human endurance. Teams of four athletes race non-stop, day and night, through courses up to 800km in length.
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Paddling tips from a surfski guru
Four-time world surfski champion and founder of Mocke surfski school, Dawid Mocke offers up some simple and effective tips to improve your paddling. 1. GET STABLE I can hear chuckles and smirks already. Easier said than done I hear you say. This may come as a surprise to you, but [pullquote align=”right” color=”” class=””]Stability issues will remain with you forever, whether you’re starting out or winning the World Championship.[/pullquote] Yes, that’s right, being stable is an […]
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Jeep Team athletes win countrywide
This past weekend, Jeep Team’s athletes claimed podiums across the country, with Hank McGregor winning the FNB Varsity College Surfski Series, OCR’s Thomas van Tonder and Hlubi Mboya dominating the Jeep Warrior Series and rising multisport star, Mikaela Jonsson, securing a Silver medal at the South African Triathlon Championships. Multisport In the Eastern Cape, 17-year-old Mikaela Jonsson fought hard to secure a Silver medal in her age category at the SA Triathlon Championships, which took […]
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Hank McGregor claims fourth K1 world crown
Durbanite Hank McGregor blitzed to a fourth world K1 title on a day that saw Team SA grab two gold medals at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships on the Oklahoma River. McGregor never lost control of the Senior men’s K1 race, and was comfortable to bide his time in third heading into the final turn. With two hundred metres to go McGregor swung out to the right and produced a devastating end-sprint that […]
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Birkett wins close Berg River Canoe Marathon 2014 battle
The 2014 edition of the Berg River Canoe Marathon has delivered unquestionably one of the most exciting and hard-fought men’s races of the 240km four-day epic held in many years. Berg novice Andy Birkett was pushed to the line to hold off Western Cape ace Graeme Solomon, claiming his maiden Berg title. In the women’s, Abby Adie faced less resistance as she stormed to a convincing win over the finish line in Velddrif. Going into […]
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Hank McGregor wins gruelling Molokai Challenge
Hank McGregor underscored his status as one of the best paddlers on the planet by winning a second title in the Maui Jim Molokai Challenge in Hawaii on Sunday, beating Australian star Clint Robinson in a thrilling finish to the tough 56km race. Faced with tough flat and windless conditions for the Kaiwi channel crossing between Molokai and Oahu, the title race quickly turned into a two-horse affair between defending champion Robinson and 2009 champ and current K1 […]
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What SUP with Dusi 2014?
There are various multi-day endurance events in South Africa, ranging from two days to two weeks, but arguably one of the most strenuous over three days is the Dusi Canoe Marathon. This iconic canoe race (started in 1951) covers 120km over three days (if you don’t get lost), linking the capital city Pietermaritzburg to the province’s largest metropole, Durban. It starts on the uMsindusi River that runs through Pietermaritzburg, taking in a number of weirs […]
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Birkett, Zondi dominate men’s Dusi 2014
There was the usual frenzy of celebrations on the finish line of the 2014 Dusi Canoe Marathon when Andy Birkett and Sbonelo Zondi reached the crowd of thousands of supporters, friends and family at Blue Lagoon in Durban. Their bullish attitude rounded out a near-perfect performance over three swelteringly exhausting days of racing in the lush Msundusi and Mngeni River valleys. With nearly nine minutes in the bag overnight, many expected the leaders to back […]
