Perth will host the biggest - and richest - race week ever staged in ocean ski paddling history, when the world’s leading paddlers converge on WA to take on Australia’s best in the five event Shaw and Partners WA Race Week from November 19-26.

Kicking off on Saturday November 19 with the 24km Fenn West Coast Downwinder from Fremantle to Sorrento Beach; mid-week racing continues with two short-course 11km hit-outs with the Dr Benjamin Hewitt Sunset Surfski Series from Fremantle to City Beach on Tuesday and Thursday; followed by Friday Dash for Cash, an early morning sprint event at Sorrento.

Action culminates on Saturday November 26, with the 19^th running of The Doctor, the holy grail of ocean ski racing - a 27 km downwind race from Rottnest Island to Perth’s Sorrento Beach.

WA Race Week will see close to 600 paddlers chasing a massive $265 000 prize pool – the richest prize pool ever offered in the sport of ocean paddling.  Add the spectacular WA location and legendary status of The Doctor, and the week has attracted the world’s best paddlers from South Africa, the UK, USA and Europe.  They’ll face a barrage of local paddling and surf lifesaving talent, all fighting for race honours and the hope of cracking the race records of paddling supremos, defending champions, Australia’s Cory Hill and Kiwi Danielle McKenzie. 

Saturday’s Doctor is the ultimate ocean paddling race.  Both men and women, the vast majority on ocean skis, will contest the iconic 27km downwind race from the calm waters of Rottnest Island and Thomson Bay.   The field faces a mad dash to the first turn east and the $5000 Hot Spot, and then face a tactical crossing to the mainland negotiating the fast-moving ocean chop, whipped up by the south-west wind, the event’s namesake, the famed Fremantle sea-breeze.   For 90 minutes plus, paddlers will hook into the steep surfable chop, before turning at the Centaur Marker for the final 6km up the Perth coast to the Doctor finish arch on the pristine sands of Sorrento.  

First launched in 2002, the brain-child of Perth born Dean Gardiner who remains the event director, The Doctor returns to Perth in 2022 after a three-year hiatus due to COVID lockdowns.

WORLD-CLASS FIELD  Internationals expected to battle for line honours include a horde from South Africa – 2022 world champion, Kenny Rice; previous Doctor winner Hank McGregor; talented youngsters Nick Notten and Josh Fenn;  and from the women’s stable, 2021 world champion, Michelle Burn; 4^th in the recent worlds, Nicole Birkett; and Melanie van Niekerk.  

From the USA is rising world-class talent, Ana Swetish; and from Europe, German Gordan Harbrecht who just took 4^th at the ICF World Champs and Frenchman, Valentin Henot.

In the Australian men’s field, all eyes are on race favourite and paddling supremo, four-time winner of The Doctor and record holder Cory Hill.  Other in-form paddling greats include Mackenzie Hynard; the Norton brothers, Tom and Sam; Australia’s greatest ever ironman Shannon Eckstein and surf champions Ali Day, Matt Poole and Kendrick Louis.  Young guns to watch include Sydney’s three Morris brothers and North Bondi’s Noah Havard; and a group of more than 15 surf stars entered from the powerful Northcliffe club on the Gold Coast. 

In the female competition, the Australian field is led by the newly crowned ICF world champion, Jemma Smith from the NSW Central Coast, who’s also clocked recent wins in the Coolangatta Gold ski race and North Bondi Classic; and her long-time sparring partner, defending champion, Danielle McKenzie, the Kiwi powerhouse paddler who holds the Doctor record.

The women’s talent bank is exceptional with leading ironwomen lining up to give their first Doctor a crack, including Georgia Miller, Harriet Brown, Hannah Minogue, Hannah Sculley,  Lily Finati and 17-year-old Northcliffe twins, kayakers Alyssa and Claudia Bailey.   Also up for the Doctor challenge will be Bonnie Hancock who’s just returned from her 254 day record-breaking lap of Australia by surfski.  

Also a late entry and a big threat with proven endurance ability is Carla Papac who just won her maiden Coolangatta Gold; alongside ironman Ali Day, who snagged his 8^th win in the 41 km enduro, victorious in the men’s 2022 Cooly race.

Australian Olympians from Games past making the trip west include kayakers Riley Fitzsimmons, Jimmy Walker, Grant Leury, Grant Kenny and Naomi Flood, rower James Tomkins, and pentathlete Colin Hamilton – plus Sth African Olympian and twice winner of The Doctor, the legendary Oscar Chalupsky.  Veteran ironmem Guy Andrews, Matt Rees and Martin Kenny are also signed on 2022.

Perth locals will race in force led by World SUP Champion and fierce paddler, Michael Booth.  Also on the grid from WA - talented youngsters, Pat Eley from Quinns Rocks, Jazz Shipway-Car, and Ash Webster from Busselton; Australian champion surf paddler, Reece Baker; in the over 50 class, Dr Ben Hewitt who sponsors the two-race Sunset Series; and in the over 60 class, Shaun Rice, who has just taken out his age category in Portugal’s ICF World Championships.

And then there’s Perth’s Harriett Brown – the 18-year-old Mullaloo paddler, who’ll face her namesake, the Gold Coast’s experienced ironwoman Harriet Brown on the start line.

A boom sport of COVID, paddling proved perfect for social distancing, mateship and fitness, and as the entry list shows, the sport can hook you for life. The field is littered with teenagers from surf clubs, the largest age category is age 50+ men with 138 on the line, while even the over-70’s are in Doctor training, the eldest being Duncraig’s 74-year-old David Norton from Sorrento club.

RECORD PRIZE POOL

The Shaw and Partners $265 000 pool sees $100 000 allocated to race finishes, while the $100 000 bonus prize pool will be awarded to the best performers over all five races*. 

For 2022, there’s two new incentives. A $5000 Hot Spot prize is on offer to ensure a Doctor start like no other – awarded to the male and female paddler first to the turning point east.  Second incentive is a $60 000 jackpot prize pool divided into six $10 000 cheques, awarded to the top three men and women that possibly break the Doctor records.  The times to beat are held by the Gold Coast’s Cory Hill who set the record in the men’s category in 2017 with a 1h33m20s time; while the DMACK machine, Danielle McKenzie, blew the field away at the last staging of the women’s event in 2019 with a 1h47m16s crossing to hold the female mark.