Dabs News | Reports on Allsorts

Apologies – it’s a long one – with lots of reports on all kinds of different sports and other stuff, because much has happened in the last month….

For the first time in many years Dabulamanzi wasn’t well represented at the SA Marathon Champs, which were held at Peninsula Canoe Club on a weekend with miserable weather. The real racing snakes were there to win a place on the national team and go to the ICF World Champs in Argentina – but apart from Clint (the Cook who grew up at Dabs) the final team selection had no one from our pond. Notably, this was the first National Champs in over two decades without Hank McGregor (11 times World Champ) on a start line, following his K2-only appearance with Uli Hart at the 2025 Champs in Upington.

On the positive side, SCARC was well represented, they got more medals than Dabs and the weather didn’t deter them at all. Well done to all involved in getting the squad to Cape Town.

The racing kicked off on a grey and windy Friday with the Guppies, K1 Juniors and then the senior short course, 3.8km events. In the U10’s Aayan Judy was second in the boys while Amile Mzolo was third in the U12 girls. As expected Kegan Voght won K1 U18 short course, Daniel van Eeden was 5th while in the U14’s Ruoxi Hao was only just beaten by local Jaydon Allot. Also as expected Hamish Lovemore took senior short course the win, just ahead of Uli Hart while the U23 Cody Stallard was third. Andy Birkett was fourth followed by Matt Fenn, and then Brad Boulle jut beat Nic Notten with Clint Cook following. The K1 women’s short course had just 3 competitors and was won by Jade Wilson followed by Georgia Singe and then Bridgette Hartley.

Saturday was then primarily the K1 long course day. Very few thought that Hamish Lovemore could or would be beaten, but Uli Hart had other ideas and took the win ahead of Hamish with Zachery Preyser (the PE2EL surf ski champ) coming third. In the K1 senior women’s Kira Bester just beat Jade Wilson to the finish, ahead of the evergreen Bridgette Hartley. Well done to Ruoxi Hao who dominated a large and strong U14 field, beating Jack Moore by some 30 seconds and Jaydon Allot by over 3 minutes.

In K2 racing for the past several years years Hank had partners much younger than himself (guys like Uli Hart for marathons and Josh Fenn for surf ski) and it seems Hamish Lovemore (who is the same age as guys like Uli and Josh) has taken a leaf out Hank’s book in getting youth on his side in U18 Keegan Voght to win the K2 senior men’s race while the K2 women’s event was won by Jade Wilson & Georgia Singe. The best results of people from our pond were then in the age groups where Sbu Zulu & Nkosi Mzolo won the 35-39s while Mike Arthur & Ricci Talevi won the won the 40-44’s. Well done boys!

Talking boys, Timothy James and Kyle Armdorf James joined the Junior South African Sprint team (managed by Mrs. Simpkins) along with the U23 Alexa Godden at the International Regatta in the incredibly picturesque town of Auronzo, Italy. Between them they got to 5 A finals, claiming two silvers and a bronze and also winning 2 B finals. Alexa & Henry Van Der Walt took silver in the Mixed Doubles 200m race while Kyle & Kayden Hogarty won silver in the K2 5000m, and Kyle showed a lot of promise in the K1 racing too where he was 5th in the 200m A Final – a fantastic result given that he still U14 and was racing up in U16

On a sad note, Prof Elna McIntosh passed on June 7th following a long battle with breast and then pancreatic cancer. Elna was South Africa’s leading clinical sexologist and fought hard to break cultural silences and sexual taboos. She also fought hard to break racial divides in canoeing. After a couple of Dusi’s she stopped paddling but she opened her heart and her home to strangers – including many SCARC guys back in the early days. One of her ‘children,’ Mo Patel, recounted how much she did for himself and others when he started out paddling in Joburg saying: “Elna had a gift for bringing together an eclectic mix of people – the unusual and the conventional alike – and doing so with complete authenticity. Dinners at her home were affectionately called ‘mixed masala,’ a perfect description of both the food and the diverse group of people around the table.” Elna was an extraordinary woman whose life was a beacon of love, compassion, service and inspiration. Her legacy lives on in every life she touched, every paddler she encouraged, and every success story she helped create. RIP Elana.

The 99th running of the Comrades will be remembered for the records set on this up run when George Kusche won the men’s race in an incredible 5:15:56, while Gerda Steyn won the women’s race in 5:44:53. We had 4 boys flying the Dabs flag who won’t forget the day either. For Piero Ioppo it was his first finish and he spent a long time out on the road to earn a Vic Clapham. Sheldon Baker had his slowest run yet, to also earn a Vic Clapham in his 6th finish. It looks like he’s going for a green number, and then he’ll have to run in it so at least 5 more. Ouch! Matthew Mey ran his second Comrades to earn a second Robert Mtshali while Damon Symondson was superfast and won his first Silver in 5 races. Well done boys. We hope there are lots more of you (and some girls) out there for the Big C 100 next year – what a special event that promises to be!

In other running news, some guys think 86 clicks on tar is too easy, so Rob Crichton did the Mac Mac 100. One hundred miles. In and around the mountains of Pilgrims Rest. 7500 meters in ascent with a cut off of 44 hours. Rob cruised home in 31 hours, with Vicki just behind him. Hard core stuff, but maybe they’re getting soft, cause they didn’t take on the 200 mile option plus they stopped for pizzas….
Staying on the topic of long runs, Bruce Fordyce likes to say that running Comrades is life changing, but at Dabs we have Moolies who says: “Nobody is ever the same after a Turtle Tour” and who would argue with either. Although the Turtle Tour is totally different to Comrades, it has similarities in that it won’t be forgotten by those who went, plus there were also some long runs, some being lovely long ones on the back of waves others being some very long walks along the beach, after boats were lost. While 4 boats didn’t come home, all the peeps who went did, and none had any regrets; in fact all were totally stoked to have been. It was a very mixed bunch – from the likes of old sea dogs ala Raoul & Moolies to laatjies like Leon, to choms like Hardi and Chris, to young ladies like Sarah Field and Tayla Gibbs – who learnt more in 4 days tour than in all her years of Life Orientation studies at school. She said she thought she was inside The Hangover movie and got to see another side of her dad she hadn’t previously seen (the Cotch one), so like Moolies suggested, she won’t be the same – but like Karen said, “It’s difficult to explain, all aspects were divine, you just have to be there…”

Raoul is already planning the 10th Turtle Tour and it looks like there’s something for everyone, starting at a nice lodge near Mamoli so you can paddle18k to or from Ponta d Ouro or out and back, coming back to same place, family and partners suitable. Then something for the more hardcore paddlers – paddle to Membene 1/2 nights, paddle to Santa Maria 2 nights – paddle around Inhaca. Then take a boat from Inhaca to Maputo. He ended off by saying “months to discuss & plan – all subject to wind.” Sounds fantastic – and if Cotch takes his family, then you should too…

Staying with Surfski, more boats were lost at the legendary 46km Scottburgh to Brighton Surfski Marathon – many couldn’t get out and simply went home. In the end only 20 boats finished – well done to Ex Dabs man Dave Tattam who did his first race in a decade with Dave Harker, in what were very testing conditions. Even the salty Simpkins missed this one to go do the Marathon Champs in Cape Town – he must be getting soft…

For those who are thinking about doing the Fish, the good news is that Fish River Canoe Club guys spent Youth Day cleaning up the river; they even found some Dabs guys stuff and shared pics of what they have been busy doing. Thanks guys – much appreciated. It looks like a very different river without water.

But having said thanks to the FRCC for this, we were also perplexed to hear that one of our senior members (with over 30 Fish finishes to his name) offered to pay to have dangerous willows and tree blocks removed and was turned down. Incredible…

Thanks also to Ethan Cockram who fixed the boat trailer and put on lots of nice new foam. The nice new Nelo’s will be particularly happy and far more comfortable.

In other news, for those who like a proper adventure, have a bicycle and have a couple of weeks to spare, there’s the challenge of the Freedom Trail – over 2100km’s from Pietermaritzburg to Wellington through beautifully scenic parts of South Africa most will never see. Lining up this year we had husband and wife, Mick and Mandy Joyce, and starting a few days later John Barrow and his mate Roger Fuller Good. Mick and Mandy were having a romantic ride (starting slowly so they could have nights to themselves and celebrate a birthday) but unfortunately on day 10 Mandy fell and broke her collarbone (again) and that was the end of the fantastic time they were having. Some thought that Mick should have pulled out and looked after her; saying what kind of husband leaves his wife in a ditch to go for a ride… But Mandy has a big heart and was very proud of her Mick when he received his blanket together with John and Roger who finished in 17 days 6 hours, catching Mick to ride the last day with him on his trip of 22 days 6 hours. Well done boys. Sorry Mandy….

In Canoe Polo news, South Africa is sending 3 teams (Men, U21 Men and U21 Women) to the 2026 World Championships 2026 in Duisburg Germany from September 15 – 20; but Paddlesport South Africa isn’t actually sending or backing them (who knows how these things work?) – instead each player needs to be self-funded and their aim is to raise R150 000 by September 2026! This will be the largest squad ever fielded by any African nation in the history of the sport. Please give what you can to help South Africa’s 3 teams get to Germany for this amazing opportunity!

https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/world-champs-2026-psa-canoe-polo

In case you didn’t know, if you do enough (8) Thursday evening Winter Time Trials you stand to earn a fancy pair of Limited Edition Dabs Branded Funky Pants – How many have you done?

But did you know, the Morning School isn’t so soft – there you have to attend 18 Tuesday Morning winter sessions to earn a T-Shirt. Yes 18! Hard core stuff. Although Senior Associate Bradley Breeztzke does sometimes bend the rules, swimmers get a bonus point, (and yes there have been several in mid-winter) and so on the Winter Solstice, some brave souls had a dip after school was done, although others were more sensible…

Sometimes professional photographers (like Dr. Alex Pitsillis) come out to see what’s happening under Gardens guidance, which then leads to people, actually one person, jumping the starts so he can look like he’s leading the pack in the pics…

Morning school – they say it’s cold in winter – but that it’s cathartic stuff… all are welcome.

And in river news – the Berg starts today. They have 74 entries of which 27 have done more than 10 while 14 are first timers. From our pond we have 3 Berg novices in Sibusiso Chwayi, Benji Mntonintshi and Sibusiso Zulu. The talk is that Sbuda will be our best contender, but may have to pay some school fees on his maiden Berg. He and Benji have been down in Cape Town since SA Marathons working and tripping the river, plus doing some surf ski paddling with Sosi, who is fit strong and experienced, so let’s hope they make the sharp end a little more colourful. Also racing will be Wongama Makasi along with Ethan Cockram who will be looking to better his top 20 placing from last year. Ryno Armdorf, with 17 Bergs behind him, is on the front row of the start grid, while Matt Cockram with 16 behind him is a few rows back. And starting in the back row, we have Karen Field who inexplicably took on the job of Sweep. As Vaalies, we hardly ever get any support from the Capies for our events, let alone willing workers, so let’s hope that this might help turn the tide and inspire a few Capies to return the favour. Anyways – good luck to all who are there. It will be another interesting one. Hank would clearly love a 15th Berg title, Thomas Lovemore would like a second – and then there’s guys like Sbuda who must be hoping his morning school training will pay dividends.

The next river race is ours – it’s the Liebensberg and it’s SA K3’s (12 & 13 September). There is no Foot & Foot in the area so get a crew together. Canoe Concepts is offering K3 specials especially for this.

Lastly, Happy Happy to our octogenarian Tony Lightfoot, who still finds purpose, peace and pleasure in his paddling. And he still loves the company of girls. Imagine having been born in 1940. Lightning has many amazing (and frightening and long) stories to tell…

Talking of long stories, hopefully the next set of Dabs stories won’t be so extended….

Till next time

Go Dabs!