Singapore’s Daniel Ang finishes close second in K1 at Singapore Canoe Marathon 2011

Marina Reservoir, Sunday, January 9, 2011 – The annual Singapore Canoe Marathon took place today at the Marina Reservoir and featured a record number of 680 athletes who took to the waters to compete across 28 race categories. The event marked a significant milestone for organisers, the Singapore Canoe Federation (SCF), as it was held in a new location and followed a new 4.3km race route, which will be used for the 19th ICF World Canoe Marathon Championships to be held here in October this year.

Starting off at the The Float @ Marina Bay, which also served as the portage area, the new route saw paddlers aged between 13 and 60 years of age compete in the heart of the Singapore city. The route first took the paddlers towards Benjamin Sheares Bridge and along local city landmarks such as the Marina Barrage, the Merlion, Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay Sands and Clifford Pier.

The highlight of the races was the portage segment where competitors in the C and K classes had to carry and run with their boats across a 120m stretch on The Float @ Marina Bay before resuming their race in the water.

In the K1 Senior Men’s category (31km) which took place in the morning, Denes Szaszak, a 1999 European Canoe Marathon Champion from Hungary, led from the start to finish in first place with a timing of 2hrs 49mins. He was pushed all the way by national paddler Daniel Ang from National University of Singapore (NUS) who finished 23 seconds behind with a timing of 2hrs 49mins 23secs, whilst Jori Lim from Singapore Institute of Management took third place in 2hrs 50mins 27secs.

Said Szaszak on his race, “I did good today, it was a challenging race as the waters were slightly choppy and the weather was humid. In all, I am delighted to have finished first and I am thankful to all my friends who supported me here today.”

The KI Senior Women’s category (27km) saw Anabelle Ng from Serangoon Junior College emerge victorious, clocking a time of 2hrs 40mins 0.9secs, ahead of Ong Meng Yean from NUS who finished in 2hrs 41mins 0.7secs.

The K2 Senior Men’s category (31km) saw the pairings of Teng Ying Qin and Wong Hong Fen Samuel place first in 2hrs 35mins 0.1secs ahead of Ng Wei Jie, Nicholas and Luke Yap Keat Howe who finished in 2hrs 38mins 59secs. Both sets of paddlers were from NUS and were separated at the end by only 300 metres.

National Junior College students Julienne Chew and Wang Nan Feng took the K2 Senior Women’s category (27km) title in 2hrs 30mins 35secs ahead of Sarah Chen and Yeung Xintian who crossed the line in 2hrs 34mins 21secs.

Said Wang Nan Feng, “It was my first time competing in the K2 canoe marathon race today and it was a very interesting experience because of the scenic route. Julienne and I trained hard for this and it certainly feels rewarding to have come in first place. I would like to thank Julienne for being a great partner and for everyone who pushed us on today.”

Meanwhile, Brandon Ooi from ACS (I), who won the K2 title last year, added the K1 Junior Men’s (18km) title to his collection with a time of 1hr 42mins 42secs. Lim Jia Ru from Saint Andrew’s Junior College clinched first place in the K1 Junior Women’s (18km) with a time of 1hr 55mins 46secs.

Also in attendance at the event was ICF Committee Member, Ruud Heijselaar from the Netherlands who inspected the route design and organizational set-up of the event yesterday.

He said, “The SCF has done a wonderful job organising the Singapore Canoe Marathon and I think that the new route has made it a very memorable event indeed. Spectators, competitors and everyone involved in the event have seen a truly distinctive canoe marathon held in the Singapore city centre today. It will be an exciting next few months for both the ICF and the SCF as we work towards creating a special World Canoe Marathon Championships this October.”

President of the Singapore Canoe Federation, Chua Kee-Huat, said, “We are very pleased with the event today and we have taken away many positives and lessons in anticipation of our hosting of the World Canoe Marathon Championships in October. We are also encouraged by the increase in the number of participants in the Singapore Canoe Marathon this year, and we hope to continue building a paddling community in Singapore in our hope of becoming the regional centre for canoeing and water sports in Asia.”

The SCF announced last month that the canoe federations from five Asian countries – China, Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines and Thailand – have already confirmed their participation in the 19th ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships to be held in Singapore from 21st to 23rd October 2011. This is in line with SCF’s aim to gain the participation of at least 10 Asian countries in the event.

Jointly organised by the International Canoe Federation and SCF, the World Championships will be hosted by an Asian country for the first time and is expected to feature a number of the best canoe marathon paddlers from all over the world.

More details on the 19th ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships can be found at http://canoemarathon2011.org/

Results

K1 Senior Women (27km)
2:40:09 – Anabelle Ng
2:41:07 – Ong Meng Yean
2:47:07 – Chan Yi Wen

K2 Senior Women (27km)
2:30:35 – Julienne Chew/Wang Nan Feng
2:34:21 – Sarah Chen/Yeung Xintian
2:35:47 – Joyce Ho/Zhou Ru Yi
K1 Senior Men (31km)
2:49:00 – Denes Szaszak
2:49:23 – Daniel Ang
2:50:27 – Jori Lim

K2 Senior Men (31km)
2:35:01 – Teng Ying Qin/Samuel Wong
2:38:59 – Nicholas Ng/Luke Yap
2:42:33 – Jaromes Goh/Lim En Ping

C1 Senior Men (27km)
Ooi Ming Sheng
Loh Wei Guo

C2 Senior Men (27km)
Goh Shao Jie/Lim Yun Kuan
Bryan Ong/Loo Kee Wei
Teo Ming Yi/Bryan Tang

K1 Junior Men (18km)
1:42:42 – Brandon Ooi
Joshua Siew
Mohamad Syafiq bin Mohd Sidin

K2 Junior Men (18km)
1:33:06 – Zhang Zhihong/Barnabas Goh
Jarret Ng/Kuo Yu Chen
Darren Tok
Choo Joon Guan

K1 Junior Women (18km)
1:55:46 – Lim Jia Ru
Kimberlyn Tjipto
Amira Bte Alwee

K2 Junior Women (18km)
1:48:30 – Samantha Tan/Lim Yi Ping
Sharol Cho/ Seraphina Leo
Mandy Koh/Maxine Chen

C1 Junior Men (18km)
2:09:34 – Ray Peh
2:09:36 – Alexander E Craggs Xian Ming
2:14:27 – Jared Choo