Following Marathons, Sprints and Surfski racing, the 2024 ICF Canoe-Kayak Polo World Championships were held last week in Deqing China with the SA men’s team boasting 3 representatives from Dabs including Kyle Hardy, Ruhan Marx and captain Niel Burger. South Africa was in a pool with Switzerland who beat us 10-1, Japan who beat us 5-1 and Denmark who beat us 2-1. Kyle Buchler, one of the boys from Benoni showed us how physical the polo game is, although his tackle did earn him a yellow card from which China scored their only goal in the positional playoff’s, where we won 7-1 to end up 18th out of 22 nations. In the finals, Germany defended their world title with a defensive masterclass beating France 2-1, while New Zealand easily won the women’s title.
Then it was the TRAC Lowveld Croc. What a river, what a challenge! Clean water, several testing rapids, along with dozens of medium to small fun ones make this one of the best river races of the year. Yet, despite the pollution rendering local rivers unsafe, despite the challenges the Dusi faces, and despite the cancellation of the Fish, the support for the Lowveld Croc continues to dwindle. This year there were only 36 finishers, with 7 DNF’s; none of which were because of the two most talked about rapids, No14 and Carisbrooke, although both had several people swem j-ing. The reality is that the (avoidable) manmade stuff is often more dangerous than the natural stuff, and although there is a hippo in the area (that wasn’t seen), there are also lots of great whites around East London, yet almost 300 will take their chances at the Pete Marlin, so hopefully the Lowveld Croc will get a big sponsor and become a far bigger event.
Well done to Clint who completed the 29km’s in under two hours, just ahead of Siskeo, with Rob Crichton coming third. Jack was fourth and first U23. Fifth was Alex, in what would have been a bitter-sweet weekend for him as this was his last race here before he goes down under. The first and only lady finisher was TUK’s Amy Hulett who had just one silly swim at a tiny little no name thing; well done Amy! Clint, who joins a long list of legends in winning this prestigious trophy, also won the first Croc Novice prize, but he’s not really a novice, so congratulations also to Frank Geiger on finishing his first Croc. And well done to the last man home, Rob Levick, who was having so much fun he spent almost twice as much time out on the river as the leaders, just so he could get his money’s worth.
The luckiest man on race day was young Aphelele who, despite warnings at the briefing, got himself sucked under the low-level bridge. Fortunately he came out the other side unscathed, but his boat didn’t. He said it was “very dark” in there. His wasn’t the only incident there – this was Sbuda’s story: “During the Lowveld Tripping day, I got trapped under a low-level bridge. Luckily, Alex Roberts was on top of the bridge and managed to pull me out just in time. I had been knocked unconscious and may have hit my head on the concrete. Meanwhile, my boat was swept away under the bridge. MJ Robb and Clinton Cook, despite the danger, swam in to retrieve it. A huge thank you to everyone involved— Mark Garden, Robert Crichton, Liam Stewart, and the rest of the team. I appreciate the support, guys! Also enjoyed being Kwagga Smith for the weekend, lovely! 👃🏾 Let this also serve as a reminder to everyone: be extra cautious around low-level bridges. Even after I warned people before the race, three of my mates had similar incidents during race. These spots are no joke—stay safe! Sbuda”. Scary stuff; but these stories need to be shared and remembered – so thanks Sbuda. The LCC guys are very concerned about people making mistakes and/or taking chances (here and at the hippo portage) and will remedy this before the next race, but they only have 6 active members and need our help.
Thank you to the sponsors TRAC and Powerade along with EGrow nursery who donated indigenous saplings to all who paddled. Thanks to the marshals Gustav, Janus, Wikkus, and Marius. Wikkus and his son were kept busy helping those who got #14 wrong, while Alison Hay and Wihan were kept busy cooking prego’s for the paddlers. Thanks also to Shelley and Anna-Marie for the time keeping and thanks to Piers for the all the organizing and for scouting. It really is a fantastic river. Yes, it’s tricky and yes things can go wrong, but go tripping with experienced paddlers who know the river, use solid, stable equipment, paddle decisively and you will have a great experience – just ask Frank Geiger how much fun he had, and how good he felt on finishing.
In other news, the Navy are getting ready for their assault on East London. Raoul, Boet and Geach did a downwind on the Vaal, while Carlo, Schumpie and Washy did a downwind to Melkbosstrand, and they got paddle with lots of dolphins. Too lovely, hopefully they will see lots at the Pete Marlin too. Although it’s way too early, the boys and girls are already looking at Windguru to see what conditions they might get…
Next up it’s the SolaSafe Mixed Doubles, then on the 31st it’s Halloween – so find a partner for this Thursday and get ready to get dressed up to go Trick or Treating. Go Dabs!