McGregor Slugs it Out With ‘Chill’ Hill at the Doctor and Comes off Second Best

 WESTERN AUSTRALIA, PERTH - Following his silver medal win at the 2017 ICF Ocean Racing World Championships, coming second to Australia’s Cory “Chill” Hill, South Africa’s multiple World Paddling Champion, Hank McGregor (Jeep Team/Euro Steel/Gara Racing Paddles), took to the oceans of Western Australia for the final World Surfski Series race, the Perth Doctor on Sunday 26th November 2017. The Doctor, the world’s premier and biggest ocean downwind paddling race, covers some 27km from Rottnest Island (aka Rotto), offshore from Perth, to Sorrento Surf Life Saving Club on the mainland. Race Day, presented with strong southerly winds, created tricky conditions to test the best of the 392 competitors. 

McGregor, the 2016 winner, was once again up against long-time rival, Cory “Chill” Hill, and still stinging a little from the previous weekend’s loss against Hill, where he was interviewed saying “first is everything, second is nothing,” raced at an average pace of 3:28 min/km, neck-and-neck, battling it out from the start, inseparable until the final dash for the beach.  McGregor fell off the pace and had to settle for second, just 17 seconds behind Hill. Rounding off the podium in 3rd was American paddler, Austin Kieffer. In the women’s race, New Zealand paddler Rachel Clarke took top honours in a time of 01:55:47, with South Africans, Kyeta Purchase and Hayley Nixon, finishing in second and third, respectively. 

Results

Men

1. Cory Hill (AUS) - 01:33:20
2. Hank McGregor (RSA) - 01:33:37
3. Austin Kieffer (USA) - 01:35:37 

Women

1. Rachel Clarke (NZL) - 01:55:47
2. Kyeta Purchase (RSA) - 01:57:10
3. Hayley Nixon (RSA) - 01:57:27 

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