CLOSE FINISH AGAIN IN THE DCC HUON WINTER SERIES RACE 1
The tradition of close competition for line honours continues. Last year
Stew Bennett won the prestigious “King of the Huon” trophy in a very even
competition.
Race 1 was held in perfect conditions with crowds of hundreds of people
lining the foreshore to watch the race! The people of Franklin put on a big
party to welcome the DCC back to the Huon.
Stew was part of a four man early breakaway group that again saw a close
finish with Matt Dalziel winning by one second from Ben Maynard with Stew a
further nine seconds behind. The winning time was a fast 47min 04 sec for
the 10.5 km course.
Close finishes were the order of the day with John Hitchens winning the Ski
division from Ian Cooksey by 0.4 seconds. Imojen Pearce was the fastest
female home by a long way. Andrew Grove was unlucky at the finish. He had
worked hard to catch Ben Fasnacht in the closing few km and thought he had
passed the finish line when he went past the emergency flare blazing away on
the foreshore. He stopped paddling and when he realised that the finish
line was 20 metres further on he was 3 secs behind. Rumour has it that it
was Matt letting off the flare in celebration of his first Huon win!
(please note this type of behaviour is not condoned by the DCC).
The sea kayak division was also a close finish with Bianca Pritchard
winning from Marcelle Ottaway and Marilyn Langham. After race cappuccinos
and Lattes were very welcome. We will expect this after every race Phil!
Thanks to Phil Watkins for organising the event and acting as sweep kayak.
Thanks also to Mary-Jane and Moya for timing the hectic finish!
The next Total EyeCare DCC Huon winter race is on Sunday May 25th with a
10AM start from the Huonville boat ramp.
