With it’s willows and weirs, thorn trees, testing rapids and long flats, there is no other river quite like it, and with it’s great Eastern Cape hospitality, there is no other race quite like the Fish which has served as the SA K2 River Champs for many years, attracting the best of the best and a whole lot of fish ‘n chip trippers. This year it seemed almost unsporting when the Olympian and Marathon men Andy Birkett & Hamish Lovemore teamed up; surely no one could outsprint them? Greg Louw, a local lad who has three K2 wins to his name had other ideas and teamed up with Matt Fenn, While Clint who came third in 2023 teamed up with Frenchman Jeremy Candy who had come second in 2023, so the race up front was on, plus Wayne & Siseko wanted a piece of the podium too…
Greg & Matt showed their caliber in winning day 1 and were slightly ahead of Andy & Hamish on day 2 after a great put-in at Marlow causeway where Andy & Hamish fell over and might have had a proper swim had Hamish not braced on the back of Greg & Matt’s boat. Andy & Hamish then did lots of pumping and hard pulling to get ahead before Cradock Weir and once they had successfully shot that, there was only ever going to be one winner, with Greg & Matt having to settle for second. Well done to Clint & Jeremy on coming third after a proper swim at Keiths and then recovering so well to get back into contention – a fantastic performance. Wayne & Siseko had more swims than they care to remember and were disappointed to end up in seventh place. The women’s race was totally dominated by Brigetta (yes, that’s her new name) Hartley and Hillary Bruss who didn’t have the likes of Mackenzie, Hockly, Wilson, Birkett, Bedoc etc to compete with, with many (like Hank McGregor etc) focusing on Surfski Champs. Hillary us showed her river skills by rolling their boat back up below Double Trouble after Brigetta had bailed, for which they trended all weekend. They narrowly missed making the top 20.
After Wayne, Cayden Wilson (13 years young) was the next best Dabs paddler home – a fantastic result for a young Fish novice although he did have a very strong driver in Benjamin Mntonintshi – well done guys! Ethan & Daniel came second in the U23’s while Cliffie & Chad Andrews would have won the father and son award, just ahead of Carel and Peter van Biljon, who were a bit further ahead of Kelvin & Jamie Byres. John Barrow and Kevin Middleton won the 60 + age group. Andy Lieth finished his 34th Fish, John Barrow got to 30 while Cliffie got to 20. Proper milestones – well done guys. Respect to young Luke who finished, despite breaking his boat in two pieces at Soutpans, having a long run to end of day 1 and then nursing his repaired boat home on day 2.
Of all the finishers none were prouder and happier than the husband and wife team of Daniel & Katy Mclachlan. After shooting Cradock weir Dan swam but Katy (who must have seen Hilary’s save) stayed in the boat, go Katy! (She will thank the life guards, but she stayed in and Dan the seasoned Dusi man didn’t.) Mick Joyce & Clive Evans were also very happy to finish, having lost their boat while tripping, and then having to buy and patch an old one the night before.
Many who love paddling rivers were very sad when the Fish was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid and then saddened again when it was cancelled in 2024 due to Foot and Mouth, but sadder still was the support the race got this year. Only 124 boats finished the main race, with 20 doing the short course. Well done to Gunther on taking young Asher Wislon, and the results show we also had older seasoned paddlers who opted for the short course, although they are not as old or seasoned as Gerhard & Meyer Steyn who now have 67 Fishes between them.
The number of Fish finishers peaked at 1008 boats in 2005 (a k1 year), went down to 798 in 2010 and then 541 in 2015. There was no race in 2020 but then when we were all so grateful to be allowed to paddle again only 292 boats finished in 2021 and now in 2025 we hit a new low of just 124 boats finishing the main race. Yes, we can attribute some of the impact to the World Surfski Champs taking place this weekend, but it now seems that 200 – 250 boats will be as good as it gets for a river race.
The World Surfski Champs have however attracted over 500 S1 entries, with a 50/50 split between international and local paddlers, including almost 20 Tvl Navy paddlers, mostly for the Masters Category. Well done to Carol and Bevan on coming second in the Pirates – Umhlanga – Pirates race where conditions were described as “a light SW wind, on our backs to Umhlanga, and then into our faces on the way back, basically flat and hard.” They were also congratulated on matching so well; bar the blood on the knees which will need to be explained. Now all paddlers are watching Windy or whatever, waiting to see what conditions will be dished up; will the main S1 race be on Friday or Saturday or Sunday, will Hank win that one elusive World Champ medal, will the Saffas clean up in South Africa – time will soon tell. Good luck and enjoy!
Till next time – Go Dabs!