KUANTAN: Dawid Mocke is back on top of the leaderboard in the fourth stage of the Pahang Ocean Paddle International Challenge (POPIC) 2022 today.
The South African paddler finished first in the Open International Single Ocean Race category with a time of 1:44:04.07s.
His victory has gained him a comfortable lead against his close competitors for the final leg of the five day race set to take place tomorrow.
“Today was a lot more intense from the start. I’ll try to work back and gain more lead in the next race.
“The last four kilometres was very tough. But I paddled the hardest today and I think tomorrow is going to be the toughest day for all of us,” he said at a press conference after the race in Pantai Cherating today.
Yesterday, Mocke came in third place behind first-runner-up, New Zealand’s Jenkinson Kent and Australia’s Mackenzie Hynard.
He said he owes it to his competitors to give his best throughout the race.
“We also owe it to our trainers and our families. Out in the water, we think about those things as there is a lot on the line with us being here in the race,” he added.
Hynard came in third place with a time of 1:49:34.82s, followed by Kent in the first-runner-up spot with a time of 1:44:18.91s.
Overall, Mocke is still leading the pack with a cumulative time of 5:04:41, followed closely by Kent (5:05:24) and Hynard (5:11:20).
New Zealand’s Danielle MacKenzie remained the victor of the women’s main category three days in a row with a time of 1:49:26.14s.
“Today was the toughest race so far. This may be particularly due to the distance,” she said.
The category lso saw national paddler Aimi Ayumi Azwan coming in second place with a time of 2:14:00.52s.
Irin Neegree from Thailand finished in third place with a time of 2:15:10.37s.
POPIC 2022 is set to take place over the course of five days between Sept 7 to 11.
The final stage tomorrow will take place at Pantai Teluk Cempedak, here.
A total of 39 paddlers participated in the men’s event and 11 competed in the women’s event for the main categories.
