From not so far away at Rietvlei, to the middle of China, to central Europe, our paddlers get to go to all sorts of places.
Saturday saw Centurion Canoe Club hosting the second K1 event in the PSG Flatwater Marathon Series, out at Rietvlei Dam on what was an unusually warm and windless day. The racing started early with the guppies, and the girls were great. Well done to Amilie Mzolo who was fastest. Luke Trollip came in second just ahead of Aara Judy who was the second girl home. She was followed by Kaylen Armdorf and then her brother Aayan, with Permission Blaai coming in 6th, and those were the podium places.
The short 10km (4 lap) and long 20km (7 lap) (can you doing the math?) races then started off together, with young Rui Hao enjoying the company of some of the stronger long course paddlers; otherwise he would have been all alone as the next short course boat (a K3) was some 6 minutes back. Great Grand Master Theo Smit was the second K1 home while the U14 Phamna Mpambani was third. In the long course race, after the racing up front had settled, it looked like there might be a 4 boat race for the win, but then MJ Robb couldn’t keep up, so he ended up paddling all alone for fourth place. On the final lap with the line in sight, Luke Salmon initiated the sprint and was too strong for Sbu Chwayi and Wayne Jacobs. The accountants pointed out that Luke is half the age of Wayne, plus he gets to train far more than Wayne, while those who like their biblical stories suggested that Luke’s haircut hadn’t weakened him. Well done Luke. Amy was very proud. In the race behind Norman-no-friends, Mike Stewart just beat Danny Van Eeden and Sbu Zulu, and in the race behind them Garden just beat his bunch of 5, although there was talk that after 5 laps Mark had a memory malfunction and tried to redesign the course. In the ladies Allison Hay was in a class of her own, while Renschi van Zyl just beat Gabriela Van Rooyen. Congratulations to Cath Van Eeden who spent most of the morning out on her own – but finished her first long course marathon. Although the day was beautifully calm, there were still several swimmers (no, not Hardi), a few DNF’s and even a DQ – oh dear. Thanks to the safety boats for rescuing the wet ones, thanks to Jennie Dallas & Bertie Baard for all the pics, thanks to Rene and her team for the time keeping, thanks to CCC for hosting and organizing and thanks to PSG for supporting our sport.
If the guppies started early Saturday, earlier still Clint Cook and Brad Boulle were racing in heats, in the heat in Bazhong, China at a World Cup Event; serving as a precursor to the official World Marathon Champs to be held in Argentina in October. They both cruised through their heats (did you wake up to watch online?) to make the final (which then couldn’t be watched) where they came 8th and 12th respectively. Saskia Hockley did better coming 5th, and then in a somewhat different mixed relay event where guys and girls from two different countries teamed up, Brad and Saskia came second with the French pair of Pierre Vilella & Lou Boisnard. (Vilella was the runner up to Cory Hill at the World Ocean Racing Champs in 2025.) Well done! But Brad; we hope your mom didn’t see the pics of you making Saskia your skivvy on those steep steps; shame on you…
Meanwhile Kayla Salzay and Helen Jansen Van Vuuren were nowhere near them, over at the International Junior and Youth Sprint Canoeing Regatta at Zemník in Bratislava, Slovenia where Helen progressed to the U23 K1 5000m final and Kayla & Helen then progressed to the U23 K2 500m final.
Next up, it’s the final showdown of the PSG Marathon Champs; a two day affair out at the lovely Longmere Dam in the warmth of White River on 6 and 7 June. Like we said upfront, paddling gets you all sorts of places.
In other news, we’ve been asked to “Please spare a thought for Prof who broke his collar bone while participating in the brutal and violent sport of padel.” Willie says he needed an excuse for not paddling through winter, but we think he’s gone a bit far, and that he should have just paddled.
Till next time – Go Dabs!