PIETERMARITZBURG, 11 MARCH 2016 – Jeep Team’s Hank McGregor was in top form on Friday, 4 March 2016, winning Race 9 of the FNB Varsity College Marine Surfski Series in Durban, and reviving his bid for the series title after he missed the first 3 races of the 10-race series. 

His first victory in the 2016 series was in Race 5 at the beginning of February, and since then he has fought hard to catch up with series leader and long-time surfski rival, Matthew Bouman.

McGregor claimed Friday’s win in 36m21s, just seconds ahead of second-placed Bouman (36m34s), with Grant van der Walt finishing 3rd in 38m05s.

Heading into Race 10 on Friday, 11 March, which is the final race of the series, defending champion McGregor and Bouman will square off for the 2016 Men’s FNB Varsity College Marine Surfski Series title.

A race win earns a paddler 100 points, second place earns 99 points and third place 98 points, with competitors’ best six results contributing towards their series point’s total.

McGregor, who has competed in 5 of 9 races so far, now has 499 points while Bouman has an aggregate of 598 points having already achieved the minimum six race scores.

A win for McGregor on Friday would see him finish on 599 points, while if Bouman claimed victory and McGregor finished second, Bouman would claim the title with a final tally of 599 points with McGregor finishing with a 598 aggregate.

Said McGregor, “The FNB Varsity College Marine Series is definitely one of my favourite series’ because the competition is always so intense and when you have a guy like Matt [Bouman] on top of his game, it means that every Friday you are coming up against some formidable paddlers. Coming into the series half way has been a challenge and I’m really happy that I’ve done so well these last few weeks, managing to climb back onto the leaderboard. Friday’s final is going to be an exhilarating showdown - I can’t wait!”

Other Jeep Team news…

Surfski

On Saturday, Jeep Team’s Barry Lewin claimed his third consecutive KwaZulu-Natal Lifesaving Open Championships Single Surfski title. On Sunday, Lewin then went on to claim the Doubles title.

Cape Town Cycle Tour

Jeep Team’s Michael Lord (multisport athlete) and Jay Jay Deysel (OCR athlete) both competed in the 2016 Cape Town Cycle Tour 109km, which took place on Sunday, 6 March 2016.

The Cape Town Cycle Tour is South Africa’s largest individually timed road cycling race, this year attracting a field of 35 000 riders, including the top road racers in the world.

Lord finished the 109km race in a very impressive time of 2h57, with Deysel not far behind finishing in 3h09. 

Clint Hendricks (Team RoadCover) won the 2016 race in 2h35m34s followed by Jayde Julius (Dimension Data) in second and 2015 winner, Nolan Hoffman (Team Telkom), in third in 2h35m35s.

MTB

Jeep Team’s Pierre Smith swapped his MTB bike for a road bike to take part in the 60km Powerade Argus Countdown Challenge, a road cycling race that took place at Stonehaven on Vaal in Gauteng on Sunday, 6 March. Smith did not disappoint. 

The race title was close with the top 3 all recording the same time of 1h26m. McGrath was given 1st place, M. Guglielmi 2nd and Pierre Smith 3rd place. 

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