Sport

Stott and Mbanjwa edge ahead in dramatic Dusi duel

January 22, 2010 Edition 2

Tommy Ballantyne

Ant Stott and Michael Mbanjwa scraped through a split second ahead of overnight leaders Andrew Birkett and Jason Graham to snatch the second stage of the Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon today.

It was a sensational race. Birkett and Graham, the surprise winners of yesterday's first stage from Camps Drift to Dusi Bridge, went into overdrive to try to preserve their precious lead.

But Stott and Mbanjwa powered on and caught the leaders just before the Msunduzi River joins the Umgeni, wiping out the 73-second overnight deficit within an hour of the start today.

In the end Stott and Mbanjwa won the end sprint in an overall time of 5.28:18 with Birkett and Graham in the same time.

There was also a tussle for third place which saw Jacques Theron and Piers Cruickshanks pip Thomas Ngidi and Eric Zondi by three seconds in 5.4:49.

Fifth place went to Craig Turton and Miles Rasmussen in 5:51:06, followed by Shaun and Ben Biggs in 6th in 5:52:12.

Defending champion Abbey Miedema and partner Robyn Kime continued to lead the women's race, holding at bay Hilary Pitchford and Jen Hodson, and Abie Adie and Lindi-May Harmsen. The top women's crew completed today's second stage in 3.13:42 to give them an overall time of 6.22:32.

The marathon finishes in Durban tomorrow.