Jeep Team’s Hank McGregor has been nominated for the World Paddle Awards’ 2015 ‘Sportsman of the Year’ award for the second consecutive year.
The multiple world champion paddler is the current title holder of the 2014 ‘Sportsman of the Year’ award, which he received in May this year at the World Paddle Awards ceremony in Augsburg, Germany.
This year, there are eight other nominees for the award, including Australia’s Cory Hill (world surfski champion); USA’s Dane Jackson (canoe/kayak freestyle); Spain’s Gerd Serrasolses (extreme kayaking); Czech Republic’s Jiri Prskavec (world slalom champion); Austria’s Markus Mendy Swoboda (multiple KL2 Paralympic champion); Denmark’s Rene Holten Poulsen (K1 and K2 Olympic medallist and world champion); Germany’s Sebastian Brendel(multiple canoe sprint world champion) and Team Slovakia C1.
Three other South Africans have also been nominated for World Paddle Awards, including South African Canoe Marathon team manager, Steve Jourdan (Lifetime Achievement Award); canoe legend Oscar Chalupsky (Lifetime Achievement Award); and seven-time Dusi Canoe Marathon champion and Change A Life Academy founder, Martin Dreyer (Foundation Award).
After an outstanding 2014, McGregor has gone on to have the season of his life in 2015; breaking records, maintaining his impeccable form, and continuing to dominate the sports of surfski and kayak marathons.
In July, McGregor became the first person in history to win the tough 240km Berg River Canoe Marathon for a record tenth time where he dominated all four days and the pre-race time trial. A few weeks later, he then claimed his sixth world title at the 2015 ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Hungary.
Earlier this year, he also defended his K2 national title at the South African Flatwater Canoe Marathon Championships; won the Maui Jim Molokai Surfski Challenge in Hawaii and claimed his sixth Umkomaas River Canoe Marathon title with racing partner and 2015 Dusi Canoe Marathon Champion, Andy Birkett.
Finalists for the 2015 World Paddle Awards are decided by public and academy votes. To cast your vote, go to http://www.worldpaddleawards.com/nominees/2015-hank-mcgregor-south-africa.
