300 boats were entered for the Drak, 285 finished, 27 of which were from Dabs. Interestingly there were 60 doubles that finished – all of whom would have been terrified at the prospect of a low top section on day 2, from Castleburn down to Underberg. As it happened, despite torrential rains on both the Friday and Saturday afternoons, none of it served to fill the top part of the river and at 05:30 on Sunday the organisers made the call to move the day 2 start, and repeat the first half of day 1.
Day 1 was a relatively long 39km, with lots of fun rapids and lots of flats too, and day 2 became a relatively short 19km’s with less than half as much fun, and less water that the day before, but still enough for large lads like Flem Pup to finish, with his boat being almost unscathed. Andy Birkett who had won 9 consecutive titles won day 1 but lost the end sprint on day 2 and had to settle for second place, ending up just one second behind Hamish Lovemore, while his wife Nix also had to settle for second, just one second behind Christie, who claimed her second title. Top of the Dabs lads was not a lad but an older dad by the name of Wayne who came 8th. Next best was Master Jack who was 20th overall – not bad for someone who was first put in J batch and then after asking, was elevated, but only to B batch. Young Luke didn’t have a great day 1, Clint didn’t have a great day 2 while Young Brad had a sore tummy and didn’t paddle, so well done Wayno! Alex, MJ and Rob C looked like they spent both day 1 and day 2 on a social trip with almost identical times, as did Belkie, Chuck, Coops and Scatter on day 1, but on day 2 Belkie dropped them like they weren’t his mates. On the ladies side we had just four paddlers, one racing, three there for fun. Sarah, Karen and Kirsty were all super stoked to finish; well done girls! Well done also to Siseko who was 11th and Ben who was 12th. Sportsman’s prize if there was one would have gone to Mick Joyce for helping Kevlar get home on day 1.
The following images were taken by the great Anthony Grote Photography
Also on at the same time was the run and the cycle which our management (Elandri and Caren, in a great show of diversity and camaraderie) supported. With so many people in town the Saturday night party is always big and as we know, our members do like a party. Our spies tell us that despite his aliments, Brad had lots of fun. Actually everyone who went will tell you they had lots of fun – both on and off the river, or the cycle or the run. It really is a very beautiful part of the world and a fun multi-sport weekend well worth going to.
The weekend before GCU held our Provincial Sprint Championships at Germiston Lake. While we had a good representation from Dabs across the different age groups, what sets Sprints apart is that it is an Olympic discipline, and Nic Weeks (aka Our Boy from Benoni) is on the verge of going to Paris. Nic won the 200m, the 500m and the 1 000m K1 races and his focus will now be on the National Sprint Championships and specifically the K2 500m race where he and Chrisjan Coetzee have qualified a boat to go to the Olympics but now the likes of Hank & Uli and Andy & Hamish are wanting to see if they can win locally and go instead. Go Nic!
Next up is the Back to School TT on Thursday. Any new or second-hand stationary would be much appreciated and if you don’t have time to shop, monetary donations would also be appreciated. This weekend it’s the Elands. This is also a beautiful part of the world, and a great stretch of water with nothing too intimidating; assuming there are no hippos it’s worth the drive given the state of our local rivers. Go have fun!