It sounds like a low-budget version of Sharknado, but the leaping fish in the Nahoon river in East London have been taking aim at the South African Olympic men’s K2 combination.
Veteran Andy Birkett has had a few chuckles but, sitting in the back of the boat, he’s been shielded by Hamish Lovemore, who has taken the brunt of the aerial mullets during training sessions.
“They’re forever jumping into Hamish and hitting him,” said Birkett, the king of distance racing with two individual world marathon crowns, one doubles title, 14 Dusi triumphs, a World Games gold medal and more.
Lovemore, a former under-23 marathon world champion, has found it more amusing after the fact. “[They] give me big frights,” he said, adding tongue in cheek: “The fish in East London are after me.”
These two marathon men, the rulers at distances exceeding 10km, are looking to make their mark in the sprint event over 500m where races last 90 seconds. They jet out today for the World Cup in Szeged, Hungary, next weekend for their first taste of international speed action.
“A lot of the training that we have done over the years is actually quite similar to some of the stuff the sprinters do,” said Birkett, adding that mileage in a week can range from 100km to 140km, similar to what they’d do for marathons.
The big difference is the quality of the training. “Hamish and I definitely changed our focus and training now to learn how to pace ourselves for that distance,” said Birkett, who has been drawing up their weekly programmes.
They’re also being assisted by a Danish coach who is watching video footage and offering advice from afar. “We need to hold 20km per hour, slightly faster, if we want to try and get onto that podium in Paris,” said Birkett.
“So we’re trying to get used to that speed — not for 500m, but for less of that distance — and hopefully we can build that up.”
Birkett once said he never rated himself as a sprinter. “Throughout my whole life, I’ve said I’m not interested in sprints, and we’ve got so many other canoe races that are amazing and a lot of fun. But, you know, I’m really excited about this challenge, and I found myself reviewing data and watching videos of other paddlers... I think I’m also excited because of the dream.”
Lovemore, who first suggested they team up for the national trials earlier this year to qualify for the 2024 Paris Games, rates Birkett’s abilities as a sprinter. “He’s been in a couple of end sprints at world [marathon] champs and most of the time he comes out on top.”
One priority this week is practising the start. “There’s one day dedicated to just starting,” said Birkett, 33. “I have people that will start the starting system for us.”
Their training has been a no-frills affair, especially when measuring out the course for the first several weeks. “We’ve got some rocks on the side and trees and branches and bushes which we know,” said Durban-based Lovemore.
“This one’s 250m, this one’s 350m. We’ve got a bunch of Strelitzias which we know are 500m.”
Lovemore, 24, has basically moved in with Birkett, his wife and their two sons in East London to train full-time. “There’s not much downtime,” he said.
“After training, I’ll go to physio or go to the gym and spend some time on the bike or stretching. With all the sprint training it’s quite heavy loading on the body, so I think the recovery is really important, and if you neglect the recovery that’s where the niggles start coming.”
But he has had some time for fishing, even outside of training.
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