2024 Berg River Marathon Champion Tom Lovemore has unfinished business with the four-day classic next week.
12 months ago the Knysna resident was ready to defend his title in the 2025 race and prepared for a massive battle against Berg legends, Hank McGregor (Team Euro Steel) and Robbie Herreveld. Illness ended that and Lovemore withdrew after the second day, leaving McGregor to cruise to his 14th title with Herreveld second.
In 2024, with McGregor not paddling, Lovemore and Herreveld fought a tight contest for three days with no more than two seconds separating them at the end of each stage. Lovemore then managed to eke out a two-minute advantage over Herreveld on the final paddle into Velddrif for victory.
The key question that has to be answered after McGregor’s entry dropped on Wednesday is: “Can the 14-time champion be beaten at the Berg?”
Lovemore, with two thirds and a win in his four finishes, is surely best placed to end the reign of the Berg King – and probably the only person in the field that can answer that question with: “Yes, because I have recently beaten him at the Berg – twice!”
In 2023, Lovemore narrowly edged McGregor on stages one and three, but lost time on Days 2 and 4 to end third overall behind the then 46-year-old and young Jeremy Maher. Those two stage wins may not be an overall victory over McGregor, but he will know that McGregor is beatable.
There are definitely other contenders – most notably young Joshua Glyn-Cuthbert and Jeremy Maher – but there is every chance the winner of McGregor vs Lovemore could be the champion on July 18th.