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River Paddling

Marathon racing is the most popular discipline in South African canoeing, and a vibrant calendar of events takes advantage of the many excellent paddling rivers and flat-water courses across the country.

The domestic river season starts with the Berg River Marathon, a 4 day odyssey in the Cape winter from Paarl to Velddrif, followed by the Breede Marathon, Lowveld Croc, Fish, and Vaal marathons.

In the summer season the major races switch to KwaZulu-Natal for the DrakChallenge, 50 Miler and peaking at the Dusi Canoe Marathon, which remains the biggest race on the calendar. The Umkomaas marathon is arguably the roughest water raced in K1s and K2s anywhere in the world, and the river season winds down with Nonstop Dusi and Tugela Marathons.

Read more about River Proficiency and River Safety before getting your river legs on. 

River Marathon news

Dabs News – N3TC Drak Challenge

To go or not to go, that was the question, as it looked like there would be little to no water for the 2025 N3TC Drak Challenge. Some were committed and some sat on the fence waiting, while the organizers sent out a deluge of pictures with the promise of rain. Still,...

Dabs News – Busting oceans and dams January 2025

Dabs is full of amazing characters – but Moolies Moolman is in an extraordinary league of his own; now having written history in making the fastest ever solo crossing of the Atlantic. But no Moolies trip is without a bit of drama and a tale or two; it wasn’t all plain...

Dabs News – December at Dabs

Absent last year (although he did have a doctor’s note) the Puppy couldn’t defend his title, but when he lined up for the 2024 Dabulamanzi 10-in-1, there were few who would have bet against him. He didn’t set a new record, (7mins 43 was slow by his standards and some...

Dabs News – The ADG Vaal and Other Reports

The first river race on record in South Africa was that of the Vaal in 1939, and this weekend saw Dabs and JCC host the 75th edition of this historic marathon. It may not have been the largest field ever, especially given that it was the SA K2 Champs, but it was quite...

Dabs News – The 4-Hour Enduro and Other Endurance Stuff

Sunday saw another successful running of the 4-Hour Enduro at Emmarentia. Well done and thanks to all who supported our event on what was an awesome day after the Boks beat the Poms, again. The 2-hour race for juniors, novices (and our teacher couple) was won by ‘The...

Dabs News – The Norman Nobody Weekend

This was a weekend with a difference in that there were no Racing Snakes from either Dabs or SCARC at either of the river races – despite both being great, and one being a national championship event. On top of this, there were only a few Dabs representatives from the...

Dabs News – International Polo Results & Lowveld Croc War Stories

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...

Dabs News – Home and Away Games October 2024

The weekend’s games started far away on the beautiful island of Maderia at the ICF Ocean Racing World Champs, with the expectations of great downwind racing.  In the end the course conditions were kak; but apart from Raoul who needed 2hrs 42 to do the 21km (2km out,...

Dabs News – From the Free State to the Eastern Cape, China to Portugal

Following last weeks’ Time Trial, Our Conquering Heroes from the Marathon Champs were proudly acknowledged and then rudely subjected to down-downs, in true SA style through a Vuvuzela; and although there was some retaliation and push back, there was lots of good...

Dabs News: The Metković World Marathon Champs

Following the Masters, it was the turn of the Juniors, the U23’s and the Seniors to contest the 2024 ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Metković, Croatia. The first of the races was the Junior Girls and after a frenetic start there was a bunch of ten in...