Ellen claims world title in Durban

Ellen Strydom (18), matric pupil of Hoërskool Outeniqua and Outeniqua Canoe Club member, recently took top honours and claimed the World Ocean Paddling title for juniors with her doubles partner Ryley Smith (18) from Cape Town.

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The International Canoe Federation's annual Ocean Paddling World Championship took place in Durban from 17 to 19 October. Over 550 paddlers from 32 countries competed in the event, navigating the KwaZulu-Natal coastline over two days in both a mixed doubles category and individual singles category.

"The start was absolutely crazy with so many paddlers and extremely testing conditions and big waves breaking."

The first day of racing in the race window of three days was the mixed doubles category from the Durban UnderSea Club to Amanzimtoti, over a distance of 29.8km. Rough sea conditions with big swells made for some really technical and exhilarating racing. Ellen and Ryley had their work cut out for them as the teams of Spain, Portugal and Australia, among others, went all out.