INLSA

Top Dusi canoe marathon contenders Hank McGregor, pictured, and Len Jenkins have made a last minute change to their set-up for the three-day race.

Top Dusi canoe marathon contenders Hank McGregor and Len Jenkins have made a last minute change to their set-up for the three-day race that starts at Camps Drift on Thursday.

The duo have tasted success together in the past, and initially started training with Len Jenkins sitting in the front of the boat, taking charge of the steering and tactical control of the craft.

However, they won Friday night's race in the Varsity College Marine Surfski Series with McGregor sitting in the front cockpit.

McGregor confirmed the switch for the Dusi, saying that they were both highly experienced athletes and were looking at ways to get more out of the boat.

“It just seems to work better this way,” said McGregor.

“We are both experienced paddlers who have done well in this race in the past, but after the Inanda Dam to Durban race we both felt that the boat just needed a little extra 'something'.

“We tried swapping around and it seemed to work, so we will stick to me sitting in front for the race.”

He said if needed they could revert to their original set-up.

“Len and I have the same leg-length so we could, if we decided it was necessary, swap seats in the boat,” said McGregor.

Jenkins' solitary Dusi win came in 2001 when, as an upstart Under-21 paddler, he dismantled virtually every record in the book. His U-21 third day time still stands as a class record.

The pair will be powerful when racing on flatwater. McGregor won the world marathon championships K1 title in Singapore in October and Jenkins has managed to forge fast combinations with numerous other elite paddlers in the past.

It will be their running, however, that will decide whether they have a chance of holding the Player trophy aloft in Durban on Saturday afternoon. – Sapa