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Australian's sixth Quiksilveredition win
by George Mojo
30/07/2007:// Australian paddleboarding phenomenon Jamie Mitchell continues to reign supreme after posting his sixth consecutive win of the 32-mile Quiksilveredition Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race in a record time.
Thirty-year-old Mitchell shared the winners dais with fellow Australian Shakira Westdorp, who took first place in the women's division.
Kauai's Kevin Horgan posted a narrow win in the stand-up paddleboard division, presented by C4 Waterman and Oahu's Keoni Watson won the 12-foot stockboard division.
Conditions were excellent for the race, offering 15- to 20-knot easterlies and open ocean swells of four to six feet.
The Quiksilveredition Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race is considered the world championship for long distance paddlers.
The race started start on Molokai, where Mitchell's superb physical conditioning was evident as he opened up an immediate lead over his closest rivals Bruce Taylor, from Australia and Hawaiian Brian Rocheleau.
While Taylor did the best job of keeping Mitchell in his sights, any hopes of a win vanished into the distance with Mitchell.
As Mitchell surged along with the swells in rhythm with his waterproof iPod, Taylor rode the rollercoaster of mental highs and lows as the battle became one with himself. The two were singing very different songs by the completion of the race.
Mitchell stepped to shore in record time, breathing easily and looking as if he could jump back on board and make a return paddle to Molokai.
No other competitor touched down on Oahu looking as relaxed and pain-free.
"I felt the best I've ever felt in that race," said Mitchell. "I didn't feel fatigued at all."
"I trained the hardest I've ever trained the past three to four months for this race, so it's real satisfying to know that the hard work paid off. Conditions and fitness played a big part."
"There were the typical Molokai flat, ugly spots out there, but nowhere near as much as previous years. I had a couple of good glides where I'd probably go a hundred yards or so and connect to another, so it was a lot more fun than the usual channel crossing."
"I heard a crack on my board at one stage. I don't know if something hit my fin or what - that worried me a little bit. I wasn't sure if something had broken, but everything was pretty good - pretty much a mistake free race for me," added Mitchell.
Second-placed Taylor made his first solo crossing of the channel, having competed two years ago in a team.
"It's a totally different race, a totally different channel when you're on your own out there the whole way. I've got to admit it was terrible," he said.
"The best part was that end bit. Just the fulfillment of a personal goal. Mentally, the ups and downs... just trying to get through those bad bits - it's such a rollercoaster ride. I came all the way from Australia for this and I'm not going to go home without finishing it - that's all I said to myself, a thousand times over," he added.
The top Hawaiian solo finisher for the men today was third-placed Brian Rocheleau with a time of 5:19:52 - nearly half an hour behind Mitchell.
The C4 Waterman stand-up division turned out to be an incredibly close race - just 13 seconds the difference between winner Kevin Horgan and second-placed Vitor Marcal.
Having lead almost 31 miles of the 32 mile race, Marcal was overtaken on the home turn into Maunaloa Bay as the pair hit the infamous home-stretch headwind. It was in that final mile that Horgan accelerated to pass his disbelieving rival.
"It was like trying to run up a sand hill," Horgan said of the home stretch. "But that's where my endurance really kicked in. Earlier this summer I did a four-day, 175-mile paddle from New York City to Newport Rhode Island."
The first of the two-person teams entered in the race was the stand-up team of Dave and Ekolu Kalama (Maui).
Despite a 30-minute delayed start for the stand-up competitors, starting out from Molokai, the Kalamas steamed through the course to be second across the line behind Mitchell in a time of 4:36:55.
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