KUANTAN: Four-time world champion ocean paddler Dawid Mocke of South Africa showed total dominance in the inaugural Pahang Ocean Paddle International Challenge (POPIC) 2022 today (Sept 11), emerging first overall in the men’s main category.
With over RM300,000 in prize pool on offer, POPIC 2022 attracted the globe’s very best paddlers and Mocke trumped them all, dominating four of the five races since Wednesday (Sept 7).
Competing in the Open International Single Ocean Race men’s category, Mocke won with a cumulative time of 6:47:05, walking away with RM28,000 in cash prizes.
He was a minute ahead of second place winner, New Zealand’s Kent Jenkinson’s time of 6:48:05, followed by second-runner-up Mackenzie Hynard from Australia with a time of 6:57:43.
In the women’s main category, New Zealand’s Danielle MacKenzie took home the grand prize after maintaining first place for five days in a row with an overall time of 7:15:26, leaps ahead of her closest competition.
The category also saw national paddler Aimi Ayumi Azwan coming in second place with a time of 8:42:01, followed by Irin Neegree from Thailand in third place with a time of 8:46:22.
POPIC 2022 took place over the course of five days between Sept 7 to 11.
The first stage took place at Pantai Hiburan, Rompin; followed by Pantai Legenda, Pekan while the last three stages were held here, namely in Pantai Balok, Pantai Cherating and Pantai Teluk Cempedak.
A total of 39 paddlers participated in the men’s event and 11 competed in the women’s event for the main categories.
