Steelcase Dragon Run: The Year of the McGregor

Hank McGregor (Aus), Tim Jacobs (Aus), Michael Booth (Aus)

 Michael Booth is a small man with big muscles, an infectious smile, and a mop of blond hair piled in a floppy top knot:  part Popeye, part Eveready Bunny, part stylish Samurai. Just one kilometer into the 23-kilometer Steelcase Dragon Run, the 22-year-old Ironman from Surfers Paradise  glanced right -- all clear.  To his left, nothing but brackish chop.

"Holy shit," he thought, pre-race nerves supplanted by an adrenaline rush. "I'm leading!"

In his four previous Dragon Runs, "Boothy" had cracked the top 10 three times (two 10ths and a ninth) -- solid as a week-old dumpling in such a decorated field, but still a far cry from the podium. "It was the first time I'd ever led a race," he said. "I was more surprised than anyone else."

Boothy heads to the front of the pack

Podium Slayers

By my estimation, there were seven men with a solid shot to slay the dragon and, no, the Boothmeister was not on my list. Based on past results, recent form, conditions on race day, and who insulted me least during the week, my top four included: Tim Jacobs, the man in Hong Kong the last two years, three-time Dragon winner Dawid Mocke (2007, '08, '10), Hank McGregor, the current World Marathon champ, and ICF World Surfski Championship winner Sean Rice. Three of those were your podium, I figured, with Matt Bouman, Jasper Mocke and Jezza Cotter the next most likely gate crashers. Add East London's Steve Woods, Hawaii's (by way of Hungary) Zsolt Szadovzski, Aussie Olympic K4 Gold medalist David Smith (he of the Olympic rings tattoo), Sydney's Mark Anderson, Perth's Dean Beament, and frisky Capies Craig Flanagan and Kyle Friedenstein and you had 15 hungry dogs vying for a spot at a table that seats just 10.

Game On

Now in its seventh year, the Dragon Run features three distinct legs -- or four if you count the steep concrete steps you descend with your ski on your shoulder en route to the sheltered beach in Clear Water Bay. The race starts with a 7-km slog into the wind. After threading through a cut in the Nine Pins island group, paddlers head downwind for 11 km in the South China Sea, and finish with  a 5-km stretch through a bay to Stanley.

Lined up outside the shark nets that were installed after three fatal attacks in 1995, the field of 150 strong was already surging when the starter's horn sounded with two sharp blasts. Hammering past Steep Island at 15 kph, the leaders pushed into the port-side chop blowing off the ocean. Afterwards, Matt Bouman called the early pace "pedestrian," amended it to "sensible" and then added, "well, it wasn't stupid!" As the jagged profile of the volcanic islands known as the Ninepins came into focus, Jasper Mocke surged to the front, ahead of Michael Booth. Then he was joined by older brother Dawid and Jeremy Cotter and the four jockeyed for the lead.

Hank McGregor and Matt Bouman chasing the lead pack

Booth had found his foray up front intoxicating. After three-and-a-half months of training for the Coolangatta Gold, where he finished 6th, the young Ironman had a huge base. But in the month following that four-hour enduro-fest he'd done only "patchy" training, much of it in a K1, and he wasn't sure he was in form...until now. Seven kilometers into the race, he returned to the lead. Exiting the narrow rocky cut in the southern-most Ninepins, he made a wide right-hand turn into the lumpy South China Sea and thought, 'This is now your race to lose. You're in front, just give it heaps!'"

To Sprint or Not to Sprint

Slightly behind and inside of Booth, a pack of four -- Cotter, McGregor, Jacobs, and Dawid Mocke -- took stock of the 11-km stretch of open water en route to the Kissing Whales, the hulking humpbacked islands hovering in the distance. Earlier in the week, the fallout from the typhoon that devastated the Philippines had bought dark clouds, strong wind, rain, hothouse humidity, and a fractured swell that made you happy to have a stout leg leash. Steve Woods, back in South Africa after two years in Thailand, called the massive swell "lekker." But by Saturday morning, race day, the northeast wind had dwindled to a modest 10 knots. The swell still had some tooth and there were runs to be had, but they came with a price. As Dawid Mocke said later: "It took a special kind of burn to catch a run."  

Last year, Hank McGregor finished fourth in Hong Kong, calling the last 5K "the longest in my life." This year, he made a conscious effort not to go out too hard. "Nothing heroic," he said of his effort up to the Ninepins. Instead he marked two-time defending champ Tim Jacobs, intent on maintaining contact with the boys up front. Eight kilometers into the race, he eyed Booth just ahead and went to work. Ten minutes later he passed within inches of Booth, impassive as a Buckingham Palace guard. Glancing back over his shoulder, Hank saw TJ and  Cotter on his line. But Dawid Mocke, by his side through Ninepins, was losing ground.

"All good," he thought.

Hank McGregor powers through the chop reflected off the Kissing Whales

After a deflating seventh-place finish at the ICF World Surf Ski Champs in Portugal, McGregor switched skis (from the "faster" Glide to the "more stable" Elite), changed his training and tweaked his technique, employing a more "economical and efficient" flat water style. Between Portugal and Hong Kong, the 35-year-old from Durban won his third World Marathon title in Copenhagen, followed by three consecutive wins at major river races in South Africa -- the last two with K2 partner Jasper Mocke.

At the 2012 World Marathon Championship in Rome, McGregor paddled with a confidence that bordered on arrogance, surging indiscriminately for little tactical advantage. At the final portage he made a reckless mistake and finished third before ultimately being DQed for fouling on a portage, a decision he disputes. A year later in Denmark, McGregor was patient, "economical," and ruthlessly efficient, and it paid off. Here in the South China Sea, he said, "I aimed to simulate the same thing." Describing his push to the front in Hong Kong, he said: "It was a controlled, calculated move. I didn't try and catch too many runs."

As the hour mark drew near, Hank stayed steady and "everyone started falling back". Everyone, that is except Tim Jacobs. Ticking along in his short, shiny lemon-colored ski at 14.5 kph, TJ passed Cotter and, soon after, eased alongside Booth -- passing with nary a nod. Said Booth: "I hung on Tim's tail for about 15 minutes until he caught one runner too many and moved ahead."

Now it was down to two: McGregor vs. Jacobs.

McGregor pulls away from Tim Jacobs and Michael Booth 

Hard Man vs. The Machine

At Molokai in 2009, McGregor and Clint Robinson, fresh off his dominating win at the Perth Doctor, paddled side by side for more than two hours at an insane pace. When Robinson succumbed to cramps, Jacobs was a distant third. Paddling alone, on the millpond-flat Ka'iwi Channel, the hard man from Sydney marched forward like Father Time, drawing to within 100 meters before Hank skipped away in the last 3K.

Over the last decade, no other Aussie has won more international ski races than Jacobs. Whether he's winning big races in Dubai, Perth, Hong Kong, or racing at the community pool, you can count on two things from the droll father of four. First, he's going to tear the ass out of any comic opportunity. (Contrary to what he says, his mother and father were neither Jewish nor convicts. Or where they?) Second: Leading early in a race matters not at all to the 36-year-old kayak coach. Finishing strong, however, is his trademark, born of hard work, maturity and will. 

A year younger than Jacobs, McGregor has the same number of wives, four fewer children, and nearly as many titles as a dragon has scales. In 2011, for example, he started 61 races and won 58, including the World Marathon Championship and Dusi Canoe Marathon. (Think about how hard it is to start that many events in a year, let alone win all but three.) Overall, he's won three World Marathon titles -- four if you count his junior world title in 1996. Seventeen years later, the man local sportswriters refer to as "Hank the Tank" or "The Machine" has won more races in more disciplines than any paddler in South Africa. Ever.

They're Not Actually Kissing but they appear Amorous

Just outside the Kissing Whales, the swell grew steeper, the runs more pronounced and TJ, "making every stroke count," pulled within 50 meters of McGregor. "I was trying not to muscle my way onto the runs," he said. "I was getting tired and I didn't want to lose my flow."

With just 5K to go, Hank powered through the chop off the hulking rocks. "I kept the pace constant," he said. Fixing his gaze on his GPS, he began counting down the K's..."all the while waiting for the hunter" -- TJ -- "to come."

One-thru-Eight

While the men's field at the Dragon Run was considerably smaller than at the ICF World Championship in Portugal in July, Cotter had skipped that race and Dawid Mocke had been sidelined at the 11th hour with a burst appendix, so it was arguable that the line-up in Hong Kong had more pop. Yes, we were missing Clint Robinson, Cory Hill, Grant Van der Walt and Sam Norton, but with those and a few other exceptions you had a virtual Who's Who of the world's best ski paddlers vying for a lion's share of the $20,000 purse. The tussle at the top made for an exciting race but the aspect that interested me more was the niggling difference between the winner and, say, the paddler who finished eighth.

After a week of hanging with the mob and a few too many post-race beers, I devised a multi-faceted if moronic formula: Elite Paddler + form on the day + Shit Happens + a few additional coefficients (mental & physical health, lapses in concentration, course management, choice of ski, conditions, stray boat wash) = Podium vs. Pissed Off. 

Consider Sean Rice's race in Hong Kong. In April he won the SA National K2 title with Sean Rubenstein; he won the EuroChallenge in Spain, finished second at Molokai to Clint Robinson, won the ICF Worlds in Portugal; US Surf Ski Champs in San Francisco and was third at the World Marathon Champs (K2) in Copenhagen. Stellar stuff. By the end of September, the 24-year-old from Cape Town returned home from coaching in Israel and faced three weeks of "pure hell" -- house-bound, studying for exams. Over-burdened and under-trained, he didn't have his A game in Hong Kong. "You have to pick your fights," he said.

Sean Rice - winning the 2013 ICF Ocean Racing World Championships in Portugal

What about Matt Bouman? Fourth at the ICF World Champs in Portugal, he's been second at the Durban World Cup more times than he cares to recount. Brilliant downwind, fast as a flying fish on flat water, he's always up front...until the finish line. Last year in Hong Kong, Bouman cruised through Ninepins with the leaders, but took a terrible line out to sea and faded to eighth. Leading up to the race, Matt and I talked a lot, heady conversations on topics I knew little about -- quarks and proteins, to name two -- and on some I was far more familiar with: defeat, managing self-inflicted pressure, finding a balance between anger, fear and calm. A thoughtful man intent of exorcising the demons that tend to derail him, I was hoping he'd have a breakout race. Bouman finished 22 minutes before I did. When I shuffled up to the Sea School where the awards were held, the big man was sitting on the hot tar playground. Ultimately, he summed up his race this way: "It boils down to who's trained the most -- not just in the last month but since birth. Today's results were honest," he said. "An honest reflection of who did what work."

Matt Bouman

Three-time Dragon Run champ Dawid Mocke paddled "flatstick" and finished sixth. Despite a most difficult year -- the death of his father, a burst appendix, and closing his paddle shop in Cape Town -- he'd showed up fit enough to average 13.9 kph but lacked that "special intensity" to hang with Hank and TJ. He claimed that he was content. "I couldn't ask my body for more." But he quickly added that his result was "intensely frustrating." His conclusion: "I just have to train harder as the bar has been lifted once again." Jasper Mocke, who passed Bouman and his older brother on the home stretch, finished fifth. Jeremy Cotter, the former professional Ocean Ironman with four top-three finishes here, now has two kids and a full-time job. In the months leading up to the Dragon Run, Cotter had been training with his old-roommate Nathan Baggaley. In 2005 the two-time Olympic Silver medalist failed a drug test for using PED's. After his second arrest in 2007 for manufacturing and dealing ecstasy, he spent five years in prison. Since his release in 2011, Bags had worked himself into shape. "He was fit and flying," Cotter said of his troubled mate. "He was a great training partner." On Friday, Bags told him, 'See you tomorrow mate!' with no hint, incredibly, that he was about to be arrested again on charges of manufacturing and dealing. "It's a weird feeling," Cotter said, "almost like a death." Cotter finished just 13 seconds behind Booth. "I still want to have a go," he said, "but I'm at a different stage now." Booth, suddenly two grand richer, was ecstatic. "I was down to my last 100 bucks," he said, smiling. TJ was satisfied. After equivocating about how much longer he'd like to race, he made a point to praise Hank. "Hank dictated the pace and dominated," he said. "I've been waiting for him to put it all together here."

Jasper Mocke dicing with Michael Booth early in the race

Street Cred

When I finally found Hank, he was sitting alone in the gymnasium, hunched over a mound of gooey lasagna. After racing around the world for the past two decades, only two surf ski titles of note have eluded him -- the Dubai Shamaal and the Steelcase Dragon Run. "The top 10 paddlers in the world are all so close," he said. "The guy who wins is usually the guy who wants it the most and is able to put it together on the day."

 Finally, in his fourth attempt, he'd have his name etched on the hefty trophy featuring an ornate snarling golden serpent. But it wasn't just that he'd won $5,000 and set a course record (1 hr. 32 min. 18 seconds) on a day with a modest tail wind. It was how he won: patiently, racing within himself. "I won with my mind," he said. Sweeter still, it seemed, was the exchange he had with Tim Jacobs after the race. Said Hank: "I told him that I kept waiting for him to come back, but TJ said 'Today you owned it!'"

His smile spoke volumes. "We all love to fight and win," he said, "but ultimately we're searching for credibility. When you earn the recognition from your fellow paddlers, you can't ask for more."

Hank McGregor - 2013 Steelcase Dragon Run Champion

In the women's race, Hong Kong resident Camille de Carmejane, a personal trainer by way of France, finished first (2:04:17); Anna Mathisen (2:05:10), a Life Coach who hangs her hat in Hawaii and Hong Kong, was second, and another local (by way of New Jersey) Lara Wozniak was third (2:06:41).

The first local male was Rene Appel. Rene, who works as Hong Kong's Olympic wind surfing coach, finished 17th overall. 

Results