The fifth round of the Gauteng Marathon Series was hosted by Dabulamanzi on Saturday. After a grey, cold and wet week the sun shone on us. The guppies did their race (along with some old man wearing headphones who stoically stayed on the same course) and then the main race started. As expected Clint took the win, followed by Luke and then MJ was third. Well done guys. On the ladies front a young Emma Hatfield from Wykeham in Pietermaritzburg totally dominated. Second was Kayla followed by Sarah. Well done to Gabi on finishing after she had swim and thought her boat was going to sink. Respect to Rob and Murray who went to help her. They missed a lap and then re-joined their bunch, but were very honest and did another lap. We believe that Willie and Hardi also swam, but we haven’t seen the results and don’t know if they were as resilient as Gabi. Thanks to all who supported our race; plus it was great to also see the usual suspects from EK and CCC there – thanks guys.

For those interested in doing something a little different, why not consider canoe polo – it’s a whole lot of fun compressed into 14 to 20 minute games, and it’s a fantastic way to build general canoeing skills and techniques. A training camp will held at Dabulamanzi from 23 to 25 June. Sorry ladies, this one is for U18 Boys, U21 Men and Open Men. The camp will be used for selection purposes for the Africa Championships to be held in Namibia from 4 to 7 October. If you are interested, please chat to Neil Burger. If polo’s too rough, if you have no ball skills, if you don’t like getting wet in winter, etc, etc, then please come and support the guys and enjoy a fine coffee brewed by the best barista–barman in town, Dumi.

Next weekend there are no local fixtures, but there will mostly like be several Dabs flag flyers at the RAC 10km on Sunday. We believe the run goes past Scatters house and apparently he always comes out (in his slippers) to cheer his clubmates on. Then it’s the GCU Marathon Champs at ERK on the first weekend of June. Or you could see if you can still join Moolies, Raoul and 17 others on the Turtle Tour in Mozambique. Looking at the names of the organisers and those going, there will no doubt be several stories. Yoh – surfski and/or marathons, polo and/or river paddling – we really are spoilt for choice, and to top it all off, there’s not much that beats having a beer while watching the sun set at our clubhouse with mates on a Thursday evening. Go Dabs!