UCT student Nicholas Notten won the Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships held in Lanzarote, Spain, from 4 to 6 July 2021.
Lanzarote, Spain (22 July 2021) – After a long time, the Canoe Ocean Racing World Championship was held this year in Spain, from July 4 to July 6, reigniting the spirit of sports around the globe.
Nicholas Notten, a student pursuing a master’s at the University of Cape Town (UCT), has won as the Champion of this competition, overcoming more than 250 participants from over 20 countries, making his country proud.
The International Canoe Federation (ICF) Ocean Racing World Championships is an annual international race for long-distance surfskis (or sea kayaks) where all the competitors’ race in one event for the world title.
The format is a 27 km point-to-point race. Michelle Burn ensured a double gold for South Africa by winning the women’s race.
Notten completed his undergraduate studies at UCT and is currently registered for a Master of Science in Medicine (by dissertation). The 25-year-old’s area of focus is monitoring training load, specifically in kayaking. In addition to kayaking and his postgraduate studies, he also runs a tutoring service for high school students.
He was born in Cape Town and lives near the coast.
“At some point, I started doing junior [surf] lifesaving, which led me to senior lifesaving,” he said.
In turn, being a surf lifesaver led him to competitive sea kayaking.
“In surf lifesaving, there are various races in the different lifesaving crafts, one of which is the surf-ski. This is similar to the ocean racing kayaking.”
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