Lovemore spoils Birkett's celebrations to clinch maiden Drak Challenge

Hamish Lovemore spoiled an Andy Birkett fairytale when he claimed a maiden N3TC Drak Challenge victory on Sunday and stopped his rival and overnight leader from claiming a rare tenth-in-a-row triumph.

The pair started together on the second day of the race on a low Umzimkhulu River which forced organisers to move the start downstream and saw paddlers competing over a repeat of the first half of Day 1, from Swartberg Bridge to Callaway Bridge.

In a double disappointment for the Birkett family, Andy's wife Nix finished second to the women's overnight leader, Christie Mackenzie. Like the men's race, the two leaders paddled together for the entire shortened second leg and the result was only decided in a sprint for the line.

Lovemore was not too phased about preventing Birkett's ten-wins-in-a-row.

"Andy and I had a a great race out there and I am just very happy with the win," he said with a smile after the race. "In my head I thought he has nine wins and I just wanted one!

"Now I have my name there as a winner, I am over the moon."

Birkett, somewhat surprisingly, said he was not disappointed that he was unable to add to his nine wins this year.

"I do not think of it as disappointing. I think racing is awesome and I said to my wife and my Dusi partner Matt Fenn before this weekend that if it was a foregone conclusion that I would walk away with the win, then I would not be coming back to the Drak.

"It is a race and that is why I like the Drak. You never know what the water level is going to be like and the level of competition is always really high. That is why I enjoy it.

"So was I disappointed? No. I had a tough race on both days and Hamish was half a boat length ahead of me today. If I had been five minutes behind I would have