Hi ,

At last!!!!!!!!

Some rain has fallen in the catchment area of the Umzimkulu.

Many have been watching in despair as the river has fallen gradually, on a weekly basis, from the superb levels which we had enjoyed over December.

The river is now back up to level 3 at the start at Castleburn, with further rains predicted for Friday.

It looks like we may be in for another cracker of a Drak Challenge.

The Drak is certainly one of the best, value for money, races in the country. The organisers go the extra mile to ensure that a memorable weekend is had by all.

Andy Birkett will line up at the start as the hot favourite. As usual, however, he will not have things his own way. The standard of river paddling in the country always makes a win a hard fought one, with the likes of Hank, Matthew Fenn and local favourite, Scott Little amongst the pretenders to the throne.

The women's race could also shape up to be an interesting contest. On current form, the fairer sex will have a tough time beating Christie Mackenzie. She convincingly won both races last weekend. Bridgitte Hartley looks likely to be her major competition.

Much of the conversation around the weekend has shifted to the golf course. The thin and fat Chalupsky brothers have teamed up with yours truly and a Gauteng import in the form of Bryan Slater (Scatter). Young Bryan has been known to solicit the assistance of a well-known pirate with the surname Morgan, in order to straighten up his radical slice. Only time will tell.

Tee off is from 2 pm at the Underberg Country club. Just arrive and muscle your way into the line-up.

Much of the serious river action will be taking place in KZN over the next few weeks.

Last weekend was no exception.

A double header, to the delight of the Dusi hopefuls.

On Saturday, the Umzinyathi club organised the SMG 50 - Miler.

The race is no longer held over its traditional course, and has been reduced to a single day event.

It does, however, include most of the serious rapids of the 2nd day of the Dusi (without the slog over the dam).

A surprise result in the men's race with East London's Matthew Fenn pulling off a win by a minute over Andy Birkett and Msawenkosi Mtolo.

Christie MacKenzie pulled a 12 minute lead over Bridgitte.

The pattern repeated itself the next day when paddlers were let loose on the Umgeni river from the Inanda dam to Durban.

For many, it was the first time that they had paddled on the river since the recent floods.

The change to the river is catastrophic.

Almost every rapid has changed significantly. Many are unrecognisable.

The lines, that experienced paddlers have taken years to learn and master, do not exist anymore.

It was like paddling on a whole new river.

This did not deter Matthew Fenn, who managed a second win in as many days, over the same opponents in the next 2 positions. Their joy was short lived, as all 3 were disqualified for shooting the pumphouse weir and rapid, which was a compulsory portage. This allowed the reigning Dusi K2 champ, David Evans to secure gold after an end sprint against Siseko Ntondini.

Christie proving that she was, once again, too strong by easily winning the women's division.

Short and sweet for this week.

Will hopefully be able to report on a full Drak this time next week.

Your SG
Copper
1111

And a quick joke.


A Welsh story...
A man went into a Birmingham supermarket and tried to buy half a cauliflower. The young greens-produce assistant told him that they sold only whole cauliflowers. The man persisted, and asked to see the manager, and the boy went to find him.
Walking into the stock room, the boy said to his manager, "Some idiot out there wants to buy half a cauliflower."
As he finished his sentence, he turned to find the customer standing right behind him, so he added, "And this gentleman has kindly offered to buy the other half." The manager approved the deal, and the man went on his way.
Later the manager said to the boy, "I was impressed with the way you got yourself out of that situation earlier.
We like people here who think on their feet. Where are you from, son?"
"Cardiff, sir," the boy replied.
"Why did you leave Cardiff ?" the manager asked.
The boy said, "Sir, there's nothing there but prostitutes and rugby players."
"Really?" said the manager. "My wife is from Cardiff."
"You're kidding?" replied the boy. "What position did she play?"

Whilst I was in Portugal, at the World marathon and Ocean Racing champs, I was forced to miss the Fish, which was really sad.

Whilst in Thailand, we were forced to miss the Pete Marlin ski race, which was just as sad.

The disappointment was compounded by the numerous photos and reports that were being sent on a regular basis. It looked like a massively enjoyable event, both on, and off, the water.

Hank managed to reverse his fortunes from the World Championships and swapped podium places with the current world champion, Kenny Rice, with local favourite Josh Fenn edging out Uli Hart, by a few seconds, to win the U23 category and take 3rd place overall as well.

Surprise of the day was the performance by the old man of the sea, Dawid Mocke, who finished just a minute behind the youngsters, to claim 5th overall.

In the women's race, Kira Bester had broken clear of the rest of the field, but came unstuck whilst trying to cut the point at Yellow Sands a bit tight and suffered the same fate as Hank had the previous year, making close acquaintance with the local rocks. This allowed young Saskia Hockly and the veteran lioness, Jenna Nisbet to fight it out, ending with the older arms being found wanting. Melanie Van Niekerk finishing just under a minute behind in 3rd.

Most of the paddlers found the doubles race the next day somewhat challenging. Many due to the fact that had partaken in the local revelry with gay abandon the night before, and the rest because they had very little assistance from the dead flat sea.

It was another reversal of fortunes in the women's race when Jenna, paddling with the Spaniard (with a very South African accent) Chloe Bunnett, relegated Saskia and Holly Smith to the second step on the podium (although they did win gold in the U18 category). Candice Murray and Babette Van Rooyen claiming bronze.

Andy Birkett and Nick Notten managed to put the disappointment of their performance at the world marathon champs behind them and edged out Hank and Josh Fenn by a few seconds in the men's race.  Dawid let all and sundry know that his result from the day before was no fluke when he and his brother Jasper rounded off the podium.

The Orange river was the scene of all of the action this immediate past weekend. There was an absence of racing snakes but those who were fortunate enough to attend can attest to a fantastically well organised event with loads of fun and terrific water. The race was won by Heinrich Schloms with the organiser of the race, Waldo Van der Linde in a close second place. The results lower down on the page resembled the first page of the Berg results from 30 years ago. Bianca Beavett won the women's category.

It is a real pity that the race venue is not closer to most of our metropolis, or that reasonably priced air tickets are not available, as this would definitely be a firm tick on most of our calendars every year.

The organisers were somewhat peeved that they only got a 350cm release for the race. Most other race organisers would be happy with 20.

The sprint committee has been ultra pro-active. The selection documents for the three main sprint tours next year are already up on the website. They are reflected under "disciplines" and then "sprint".

With the carrot of possible Olympic participation, there will be a shift in focus for many of our elite paddlers.

The first draft calendar for the next season has been published. It is still very much a "work in progress", and much discussion and negotiating still needs to take place. Items in green are relatively confirmed.

That’s all for this week.

Back again when necessary.

Loads of exciting events happening all over the place.

Your SG
Copper
1111

And the joke.
Friendship among Women:
A woman didn't come home one night. The next morning she told her husband that she had slept over at a friend's house. The man called his wife's 10 best friends. None of them knew anything about it.
Friendship among Men:
A man didn't come home one night. The next morning he told his wife that he had slept over at a friend's house. The woman called her husband's 10 best friends. Eight confirmed that he had slept over, and two said he was still there.