Mocke duo set the standard on Day 1 of Lifesaving Club Championships

Sport24, in partnership with DHL and Lifesaving SA, reports on the 2022 DHL Lifesaving National Club Championships in Gqeberha, which started with the Masters on Sunday, 20th March and finishes on the 26th March.

The Mocke husband and wife duo of Dawid and Nikki are iconic names in lifesaving and paddling. 

On Sunday, the two set the standard on the opening day of the 2022 DHL Lifesaving National Club Championships Gqeberha.

More than 1000 of the country's finest lifesavers will compete in the surf, on the sand and in the pool over the next week in the Open, Junior, Seniors and Nippers, with local club Summerstand, inspired by the Nippers, the overall title winners in 2021.

The opening day is always reserved for the Masters of the sport and the competition seldom disappoints with so many of the biggest names in the sport in action.

Dawid and Nikki Mocke are world champion paddlers from Fish Hoek and they won the prestigious iron competition for men and females, respectively.

The Mocke's, who started the Surfski school in 2002, has always been synonymous with lifesaving and success in the sport and paddling.

The Mocke's met as teenagers and have been married for 19 years, during which time Nikki represented South Africa at the 2008 Olympics and Dawid was the World Sufski Series Champion four times between 2009 and 2012.

Nikki has made 18 national teams for lifesaving marathon canoe and sprint canoe paddling and, in 1998, was crowned world champion marathon paddler.

She was also the world lifesaving surfski champion in 2004 and in 2003, she set the Guinness world record when she paddled from Cuba to Florida in the United States.

Nearly 20 years on and there is still no stopping the Mocke's when it comes to competitive lifesaving and