- Canoeing couple Andy and Nikki Birkett made it a 60th Berg River canoe marathon when they won their respective races.
- They became the first couple to win the race.
- They did so through fluctuating and contrasting fortunes.
Andy Birkett and his wife Nikki turned the 60th Berg River canoe marathon into a family affair with their wins in the respective races on Sunday.
The wins made the Birketts the first husband and wife paddlers to win the Berg title.
Andy Birkett, who won in an overall time of 17.27.24, grabbed a two-minute lead on the second stage when second-placed Hank McGregor made an error in a tree-block.
He managed to retain that advantage for the remainder of the race, despite McGregor continually trying to claw back into the contest.
McGregor won the stage honours, bring his total number of stage wins to three, but the tenacious Birkett was right on his wave as they raced into Velddrif to claim a second Berg title to go with his 2014 victory.
The women's race was shrouded in high drama when race leader Nikki Birkett (20.40.54) inexplicably followed a group of paddlers that doubled back after the portage at Oordraplek, adding six kilometres to her stage.
She was passed by second-placed Jordan Peek and third-placed Bianca Beavitt, who made exactly the same mistake, but managed to turn back once they realised their error.
That threw the race standings into disarray, but once Birkett had come to terms with her mistake, she charged into the tide, the oncoming waves and the gale-force winds and finished with her race-winning lead intact.