BOB NORRIS
The 2026 Discovery Surfers Challenge may well go down as one of the most successful of the 51 events held since the inaugural run of 26 participants in 1975.
It was the first non-conformist race of all time and won by a man who championed all forms of running, Kenny Wilkinson, now over 80 years of age and a resident in Knysna where he also organised the Knysna Marathon and launched the Knysna parkrun.
The GO spoke to him last week and he said: “It is unbelievable that it all started 51 years ago out of a challenge of surfers to runners.
“We [the runners] took it casually, at first thinking it would be a good training run for Comrades.” Comrades that year attracted only 606 runners.
This past weekend the three running events over 17.5km, 11.2km and 5km, plus a small elite paddling field attracted close to 3,500 entrants.
The 17.5 race which looked like it might be dwindling in recent years has bounced back dramatically and definitely has a quality field, and this year the 11.2km men’s race was also highly competitive, while the women produced a close race.
In 2025, Keagan Cooke travelled from Nelson Mandela Bay with his entire family of father, mother, brother and sister and took the race in the second fastest time in its history.
He was back this year and gave it his best shot despite being in the middle of an Ironman training block. This time he had to contend with a young man few have met and who has even loftier ideals in athletics come 2028.
Keagan Stansfield ran hard from the gun, but was subjected to some discomfort by an insect flying into his mouth.
Eventually he stopped, vomited the pesky visitor out his system, picked up the pace and managed to catch Cooke again.
They finished with Stansfield first in a new record of 66:13, Cooke second in 67:30 and Stan Masuku, a man with a superb story of his own, in third at 68:11. The closest race in years.
The women’s race was equally enthralling with Cooke’s sister Chelsea moving up from 11th at her first outing in 2025 to a very close second in 86:38 behind Andrea Ranger, one of the most experience Surfers exponents in the history of the race, who finished in 86:17.
It was nail-biting to watch. Third was another superb newcomer, Kaitlyn Breetzke, in 91:25.
In the shorter race from Gonubie, over 11.2km, Luthando Hejana, a veteran runner held on to win in 37:36 from younger runners, though still seniors, Bulele Ngcongo and Sinje Jongwana.
The first junior, 16-year-old Sam Norris was fourth in 40:44, with a time improvement over two years of 5:46, while the second junior was a young 15-year-old who has been lighting up track races, Chris Lombard, in 41:26, and sure to come through the ranks.
Masters runner Jennifer Taylor won the women’s race in 51:25, with Bridget Robertson second in 31:32 and Viwe Mbedhli third in 53:20, and Roxy Ward fourth in 54:42.
The 5km which was once the domain of sub juniors is now open to all. Christopher Hanley came in first in18:04, Mbasa Nyathani second in 18:34, Caleb Giese, third in a splendid 19:27 and Yola Bundasa fourth in 19:51.
Bailey Bowman was the first female in 20:33, followed by Lily-Ann Catherine in 20:44, Caitlin Lombard third in 21:18 and Danieka Botha fourth in 22:21.
The first single ski in the paddling event was Tayne Thompson, Steve Woods was second and Matthew Tebbutt third. Madison Malherbe was the first female paddler.
