Banyoles, in the heart of Catalona, Spain, and one of the most beautiful and picturesque places on the planet for the World Canoe Marathon Championships to be held at, was the scene for a good number of South African triumphs in the Masters categories these past two days, but also the scene for a number of 'what ifs?' as well.
The triumphs in particular are attributed to the SA 'Golden Girls' - Antje Manfronie, Anna Clifford-Arwidi, Hilde Lapere, Louise de Villiers and Mary Burton, who upstaged their male counterparts and pretty much dominated Women's canoeing on the Masters WMC stage on Wednesday 22nd September. Antjie (a blonde) won a Silver medal in the Women's K1 35 - 39 Years, Anna (another blonde) the Bronze in the 40 - 44 years, Hilde (yet another blonde!) - carrying on with her string of Gold medals from the past several WMC's - Gold in the 50 - 54 years and Mary Burton (yet even another blonde!) and at her first WMC, Gold in the 55 - 59 years. The Men's Masters responded with a Bronze to TC Smit in the K1 50 - 54, and Gold's to Roelof van Riet in the 60 - 64 and to evergreen Herve de Rauville in the 70 plus division, but hat's off to them as the competition was as fierce as it always is - these 'Baalies don't seem to know what 'slow-down-with-age' means! In fact, they dispel it in everything they do.

In the K2 events, held on Thursday 23rd September, it was again the Golden Girls to the fore, with Antjie and Anna teaming up in the 35 - 39 year age group, Anna dropping to a younger to be able to paddle with Antje, to bring home the Gold, whilst Louise de Villiers without a partner up to an hour before the race - Kate Lapacz, having been taken to the hospital by Team Manager, Steve Jourdan, to be put on a drip after picking up a gastric problem - teamed up with a Belgian paddler, to win Gold in the 50 - 54 year age group.

                                  Antjie and Anna

In the Men's division, despite a number of prize crew's taking to the water, it was only the Cape duo of Rob MacLean and Andre' Rabie who managed a place on the podium, when they were beaten on the sprint to the line in the final lap by a French crew in the 55 - 59 year group, so bringing home a Silver for SA - the single Men's Masters K2 medal.

                             Rob MacLean and Andre' Rabie
The 'What if's?" will be discussed into the future and they included Wayne Wilson's epic battle in the 35 - 39 year Men's K1, when pulling strongly with the front bunch in the early part of the race felt his steerage system rip out of its housing, to end his race; Dave Hamilton-Brown, who had been having one if his best seasons in a number of years, who could not shake the affects of the flu' that he contracted 10 days ago, opted to focus on the K2 event, to find that after the start and despite picking up a good slip, could not reduce his heart race so made arguably the wisest decision and retired; Radeck Orzechzi, leading well in the C1 event for Masters Men, 45 - 49, and the definite favourite, broke his paddle at the start of the 2nd lap; Rob MacLean, still suffering from food poisoning from the flight over on Monday, had to retire during his K1 event to try and save himself for the K2 event the next day (and it paid off! despite their K2 having been extensively damaged during the transport to Spain, necessitating emergency repair work with Gen-Kem and Duct tape!); Andre Collin's, who had a shoulder collapse - nerve impingement - in the K2, 60 - 64 years, where he and Roelof van Riet were odds-on favourites for Gold and of course, Kate Lapacz, who with Louise de Villiers would have won another Gold (she did so with Louise in Portugal in 2009).
So, in wrapping up the Masters divisions of the 2010 WMC's, South Africa has maintained their very positive presence at that level of canoeing on the world stage.
Now we move into the Juniors and U23 K1 races today and then the final two days of competition which will see the Junior K2's, the Senior K1's and K2's on Saturday and Sunday, before the stage sets on yet another WMC and the promise of a brand-new and exciting venue for 2011 - Singapore - where the undoubted might of the Australian, New Zealand and Chinese paddlers will be looking to stamp their mark - they sadly having been absent from many of the European based WMC's because of the travel issue. And South Africa will also be there, continuing keep our canoeing the flag flying high.