It was a very busy weekend with pretty much all the different disciplines in play, what with the Non Stop and the One Hop, Mbanjwas to Josephines, Sprints and Kayak Cross down in KZN, Marathons at Florida Lake and novice trips on the Vaal River.
On Friday a few tough guys and one lady did the Non Stop Dusi. Sbonelo Khwela who was second in the Dusi won this one. Matt Fenn who was third at Dusi claimed second place, as he did last year, while the SCARC crew of Benjie & Wongama came third, as they did last year. From Dabs we had only Kevin and Daryn there. They got stuck in hyacinth at Coolie Bus put-in for 2hours, and then missed the cut off at the dam wall. Sorry boys, next time. This year only 14 boats finished – and only one was from GCU.
On Saturday 26 paddlers lined up for the One Hop, in memory of Mark (Hophead) Perrow who died tragically in the valley 5 years ago. 10 tripped the 36km to Riverside, (it’s a trip not a race) the rest (with many people from our pond) did the long 63km through to Old Buck Bridge. The river was running at 1.9m which is full, but this also makes it fast, so most averaged about 15km/h, and all had a lot of fun. Well done boys, and a special shout out to the girls: Amy who drove her dad down the long Hop, and to Megan Goble and Gogo Cally who did the shorter trip – You Go Girls! Check out some of Daniel McLaughlans GoPro footage here: https://youtu.be/yJBrWi1gfAo?si=CDw9HPqGJlsVcYKD
Sunday was race from Mbanjwas to Josephine’s which includes the notorious Approaches and No’s1 to 8. This adrenaline rush was won by Hank & Wayne. They did the 35km in just 2hours 11mins, with Rob & MJ coming second. This was also a fairly informal event, without timekeepers, and mostly just a tripping session for the guys to check out the river for next weekend’s Umkomaas Marathon. Most of the Dabs crews got out at Nyala Pans, (with Nick Warren & Rory Attridge winning this short course ahead of Chris Carnegie & Leon Bartel, and then Malcolm Stothard & Bryan Slater) to get on the road home a little earlier. Well done to Scatter who did more miles in this one weekend than he has done all year; we can only think that poor Belkie must have missed his usual Umko partner Mike Barry, who is out injured having broken some ribs on Day 3 of the Dusi, although Scatter knows this river better than most. Well done also to Leon who has done pretty much every river event this year. Respect to MJ who took him on his first Umko outing and to Carnage for taking him on the race day; what a treat to be down in the valley, especially if you are sitting behind someone who knows what they’re doing in big water. All the boys and girls are still on a high after all the fun they had!
On Saturday there was also a Kayak Cross event on the uMzimkhulu and the KZN Sprints at Dudley Pringle, but we didn’t have any Dabs or SCARC paddlers at either. Tiffany Koch and Saskia Hockley dominated the ladies sprints, while Hamish Lovemore and the French hero Jeremy Candy dominated the men’s. Sadly Candy won’t be here for the Umko next weekend – he could have had fun…
Also on Saturday FLCC hosted a long and short course marathon. Ruoxi and Asher continue to fight for first in the boys guppies while Aara is still winning in the girls – it will be good to see these paddlers transitioning into canoes. The comeback guy Stanley Freiman (who was once the first K1 home on the Umkomaas) won the main 20km race, just ahead of Sibusiso Zulu. The first double home was the mixed double of Renschi & Richard, with Gabi & Michelle winning the Ladies, while Gunther & Pippa won the short course race.
While the river rats, the sprinters, the kayak cross and the marathon peeps were all busy doing what they know and love a dozen newbies tripped the Vaal from below Goosebay Canyon to Parys – and all can’t wait to go back. Well done to the organiser Argon Ferrotec, and happy people like Wayne Taylor for getting more people onto rivers. Hopefully they will all become like Leon and learn the joys of rivers.
This weekend it’s the Trilogy Sprint Series and the mighty Umkomaas Marathon – who is your money on winning this one? From Dabs we have several serious contenders for the top 10 – but good luck to all the boys and girls going – enjoy! PS: Entries are still open! Also coming soon (March 21-23) it’s the SA Canoe Polo Champs which are being hosted at Dabs – please come watch but also please follow them on YouTube (today) so that it can be live streamed. Click here now and subscribe:
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Till next time – Go Dabs!