Bouman dominates Winkle race

Durban - Once again Matthew Bouman held the spotlight firmly on his current position as leader of the current Discovery Sunglass Hut Surfski Series as he reeled in the victory for the Discovery Winkle race at Winklespruit race on Sunday.

Racing a T-shaped course that had paddlers heading out South from Winklespruit beach towards Karridene, then back past Winkle followed by a beach hop at Warner beach and finally finishing back at Winkle. The 15 kilometre long course or the option on a seven kilometre short course had competitors racing in mostly flat conditions throughout, although with tricky surf conditions at Winklespruit.

Although there was an obvious absence of a select group of top paddlers who were in Plettenberg Bay competing in the SA Marathon Champs, Bouman still managed to show off his skills in the surf.

Bouman lead the pack from the start, lengthening his lead at each turn and beach pit stop until he claimed the title as he reach the finish at Winkle.

Richard Burn, Murray Smith and Nicholas Burden lead the pack who were chasing Bouman. Burn, who came in second overall, managed to pull himself through the pack with skill alone after being drilled by a wave early on. Smith and Burden came in third and fourth consecutively.

Michelle Eder returned to take back her title as series leader and was elated to have such a great conditions and race course set for the day. "This was my most enjoyable race of the season thus far," gushed the Eder. "Fantastic conditions and a race format that kept my mind off the length of the race with a great route and superb waves."

The Toti pacesetter had a brilliant start and had race regular Donna Winter on her tail till the turn at Karridene. "I managed to stay in front and lengthened the gap when I took an almost diagonal line from Karridene missing a few of the tricky waves in the process," said Eder.

"I'm looking forward to next weekend's race as it also has a fun format," said Eder. "I enjoy races where we can take advantage of our skills like getting in and out of the surf and it also takes our mind off the race itself," she added.

Quinton Rutherford and Bryan Taylor claimed the men's title in the doubles race and the ladies was taken by Cara and Penny Bush.