Written by Brad Morgan | Photo: Anthony Grote - After a recent singles (K1) victory in the South African Canoe Marathon Championships in Pietermaritzburg, and second place in the doubles (K2), Natal Canoe Club star Andy Birkett will be heading overseas with his K2 partner Greg Louw to tackle two big events in preparation for the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Hungary in September, where South Africa will be defending the men's team title they won at the World Champs in Oklahoma City in 2014.

Birkett and Louw will first tackle a Marathon World Cup stop in Brandenburg, Germany, on the weekend of 1 and 2 August, followed by Spain's world famous Sella Descent, a week later, which will feature many of the top crews who will later contest the Marathon World Championships, competing in front of a massive crowd which lines the banks of the river.

The race starts in the town of Arriondas, which is nestled at the foot hills of the Picos del Europa, and makes its way along a 20 kilometre stretch of the Sella, finishing at the seaside resort of Ribadesella.

Birkett, who is remarkably driven, is also usually somewhat cagey about his goals, and he knows how to focus on the big picture, so it came as little surprise when he said the two forthcoming events world serve as "race experience".

He explained: "There aren't many local races in which you can practice your marathon racing with so much depth, like the Sella. I am not sure what that World Cup will be like in Germany, but it will still be nice to do a marathon format race. It's purely just some practice. In terms of results, I am not going to put too much pressure on ourselves, and read too much into them. Worlds is the end-goal."

Questioned about maybe one day adding a Sella victory to his list of ballooning achievements, which also include winning the Dusi Canoe Marathon five times, the under-23 Canoe Marathon K1 world title and the Berg River Canoe Marathon, among others, Birkett's features broke into a gentle smile.

"Definitely! I think all South African and marathon river paddlers would like to do that [win the Sella]. I would love to do that one day," he shared.

Birkett calls Pietermaritzburg home and Louw hails from the Eastern Cape, so preparing for big races is not the easiest of tasks for the pair.

"We need to work on a few things. Our combination is actually not good at the moment," he admitted, "so hopefully we can spend some time working on it.

"From a combining aspect, we really battled at the SA Marathon Championships. When we get our speed up, we feel like we are paddling very differently in the boat. We just need to click again."

Taking on the two big events before the World Championships will, however, help work out any kinks in the teamwork between Birkett and Louw.

"It's about spending time together in the boat. We did it last year and we made it work. We just have to find our groove again," the NCC standout said.

Since his strong showing at the South African Championships, he has taken some time out of training, but is now back going hard at it.

"It was nice to take a bit of time off, and I am training hard again, and I have the Berg River Canoe Marathon in two weeks' time, so that will be a nice, little battle. The Cape guys will have to look after us," Birkett reckoned. "Last year, I was lucky in that they didn't send me down any wrong channels or anything like that. They looked after me last year. This year it might be a different story."

Looking back on his recent performances, he concluded: "For sure, I was satisfied with my performance at the SA Marathon Champs, but at the same time I know [world champion] Hank [McGregor] will up his game, and so will the rest of the world up their game. It's not just about SA Marathons anymore. It's about World Marathons. I can't just be satisfied with the SA Champs' [performances]. I have to try and put in even more effort and raise my game for World Marathons."