FRANCE--St. Maarten paddler Stuart Knaggs placed ninth in the mixed K2 (double) category and 48th overall out of 283 finishers in the 30km Ardeche Marathon in France.
Knaggs is in training and building toward competing in a long distance, 56 km, paddle race in South Africa in December.
"Considering everything, we were quite happy. There were a lot of things we could have done to knock 5 minutes and about 10 places off our result,” said Knaggs. “ Mainly my inexperience (last river race for me was in 1981), brand new boat and only a total of about 30km paddling with my partner before the race".
Knaggs partner for the first time with Belgian paddler Stien Verlinden. The pair had met when Knaggs represented the Friendly Island at the World Surfski Championships back in September.
"The Ardeche marathon was a very special event for me. I started canoeing in rivers in South Africa in the 1980s, and this is the first river marathon I have participated in in 37 years,” said Knaggs. “So, for me it was returning to my roots. The fact that we paddled a good race with a very credible finish in the top 50 overall, made the trip even more memorable".
Paddling down a river is quite different then open ocean racing where paddlers can actually catch and ride waves.
"Down river marathon paddling differs from surfski in that it is a more constant hard pace, with very technical sections through the rapids. Whereas surfski paddling is a combination of high intensity paddling separated with short rests as you ride the ocean waves. It was relatively easy to adapt back to this type of racing after years of surfski paddling,” said Knaggs
“I have the opportunity to take part in one more down river race in Belgium before returning to surfski racing in December and am very much looking look forward to it".
