Clean sweep for Boothy at the Hamilton Island Gatorade Clash of the Paddles

Vaikobi’s Michael Booth (Fenn/ Jetts Fitness / Ocean Paddler) completed a clean sweep of the Gatorade COTP event here at Hamilton Island with a fantastic victory today in the 22km Race from Linderman to Hamilton Island.

Boothy also took out the 3km and 7km races here on Hamilton Island proving that all his hard work in training is paying off on the water.

In what turned out being an extremely technical race due to the arrival of a strong Southerly change of 20-25knots early in the race, Boothy took control by keeping a line closer further upwind and to the west whilst his closest competitors took a line further East, resulting in them having to deal with more cross wind conditions closer to Hamilton Island.

The ever consistent Jeremy Cotter (Epic) finished just over a minute behind Boothy in 2nd place with Clint Robinson (Epic) taking out 3rd.

Mark “Ando” Anderson (Fenn) had a great race and finished 4th ahead of Gold Coast’s Cory “Chill” Hill in 5th.

A Strong line up of 74 competitors lined up on the beach at Linderman Island in light conditions and slight rain, however not long after clearing Linderman Island the breeze increased out of the South East creating great running conditions.

A little further down the track, the breeze veered more out of the South and increased in strength creating some strong cross wind conditions with large waves that tested the mettle of everyone on the race course and resulted in a few retirements.

The Gatorade Clash of the paddles event has seen a strong increase in competitor numbers in the surf ski division this year and full credit to Surf Life Saving Australia for organizing a fantastic event. If you are considering coming up to this event next year, lock it into your race schedule as you will have a great time.

Final results will be available at: http://sls.com.au/clash-of-the-paddles/results