February 20, 2011. It was the exuberance of youth triumphing over experience in The Unlimited Dusi Canoe Marathon on Saturday when Andy Birkett outgunned Ant Stott in a sprint finish at Blue Lagoon . . . winning by just a second, the closest ever margin in the 2011 Dusi Canoe Marathon.
Picture gallery below. Pictures supplied by The Unlimited Dusi Canoe Marathon.
This was after Stott and Birkett had carried out a ding-dong battle pretty much from the start of day two. With most expecting Stott to use his guile and experience to outpower Birkett on the home stretch towards the Umgeni River mouth, it was a bit of an upset to see Birkett taking the honours. A gracious Scott commented that Birkett was “The man of the moment, but also the man of the future”. The top five were Birkett, Stott, Michael Mbanjwa, Sibonelo Zondi and Hank McGregor.
More Dusi pictures: See Dusi day 2.
In the ladies race Robyn Kime held on to a huge advantage going into the last day and paddled sensibly to secure victory, followed home by Abby Adie.
A large crowd were on hand in Durban to welcome home the main bunch, led of course by the ever-present Dusi Floozies.