The 2026 Berg River Canoe Marathon on July 15-18 will feature a classic youth versus experience battle with 14-time race winner Hank McGregor and 2024 champion Tom Lovemore facing off against rising star Joshua Glyn-Cuthbert.
McGregor caused a flurry of excitement when he quietly slipped in his entry on Wednesday and thus signalled his intention to defend the title he won last year – and 13 times before that since his first victory in 2005. The 48-year-old has also won more Marathon World Championship kayak titles than anybody else on the planet, and despite his advancing years he is a strong contender at any race where he is on the start line.
Lovemore may not have the same international pedigree as McGregor, but his victory in 2024 proved that he has some of the same race-winning traits as his world-beating brother, Hamish – and the 28-year-old has age on his side. Until McGregor’s entry dropped, Tom Lovemore was joint favourite to win the gruelling four-day marathon from Paarl to Velddrif.
Standing between the two proven champions and another title at one of South Africa’s major canoeing events, could be a 22-year-old Maties student who has shown himself to be a race winner this season. So far Glyn-Cuthbert may be something of a big fish in a small river, but the manner in which he has completely dominated the 2026 Western Cape season – going unbeaten in the four June races leading up to this month’s Berg – proves he is paddling toward bigger things.
The fourth-year electrical engineering student will however face a much sterner test when he comes up again established world-beater McGregor and proven stage-race champion Lovemore – and others – in the tricky waters of the Berg.
Glyn-Cuthbert does however enjoy one significant advantage in that his four wins last month were all on the race course, and his up-to-date river knowledge of the tree-blocks and channels that litter the opening two days could prove an invaluable assett.
While the event looks likely to be something of a three-way battle, a phalanx of other paddlers could muscle their way into contention for at least places on the podium, including two-time top-three finisher Jeremy Maher, as well as Msawenkosi Mtolo, Anders Hart, Heinrich Schloms, Paul Marais and Divieano Pietersen who have all recently finished in the top ten of the famous four-day race.
Unlike the potential men’s race of the ages, the women’s event looks likely to see the crowning of a young future star. Neriyah Dill will be tackling her third Berg River Marathon next week and already the 20-year-old has an impressive pedigree of two podium finishes at the famous race.
In 2024, débutante Dill was just six minutes away from victory despite losing 12 minutes on Day 1, and last year there was no disgrace in narrowly losing out to experienced national team paddlers Jenna Nisbett and Nix Birkett as the pair battled each other for the title.
Like Glyn-Cuthbert, Dill has been a dominant force in the build-up races and can also boast four-wins from four starts in the river season. Barring the late entry of a big-name marathon paddler, it is hard to see the Peninsula Canoe Club paddler being beaten to Velddrif. She has proven herself capable of handling and being competitive in the multi-day format and the extreme distances of the 240km race, and her four wins in June show she is in great form on the tricky rivers sections of the opening two days.
The starting cannon fires at 9am on Wednesday, July 15th, in Paarl, when paddlers head to Zonquasdrift 62km downstream for the first overnight stop. From there, the 46km Day 2 takes competitors to Bridgetown, before the long 75km Queen Stage to Zoutkloof, and then the final 56km Day 4 to Velddrif.
