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 CSA Slalom
What is slalom about?
Slalom is all about adrenalin and river skills – not about muscle power alone. It is an olympic discipline that is competed over a ±300m long river section. Competors take turns to race against the clock and the combined time for two runs (in seconds) is taken as the final points. Paddlers need to negotiate about 20 gates hung over the river which they need to pass through in a specified sequence and direction – either upstream or downstream. 2 penalty points are added if the paddler touches a gate and 50 penalty points are added if the paddler misses a gate. The paddler with the least points is the winner.
The different classes in which paddlers compete in South Africa is:
- K1M (male paddler sitting with double blade paddle)
- K1W (female paddler sitting with double blade paddle)
- C1M (male paddler kneeling with one-bladed paddle)
- C2M (2 male padlers kneeling with one-bladed paddle)
- Open (plastics or any canoe/kayak you want - unofficial category)
Explanitory slalom animation.
Canoe/Kayak slalom is a paddling discipline that is about to take off in numbers. This will happen as soon as:
- the excitement of paddling in rapids takes hold of the average paddler,
- slalom equipment becomes available for all who want to participate,
- access to training venues becomes easier and
- if competitions are held on courses that match all skill levels.
It is our aim to do just that.
Contacts:
Contact Person: Alick Rennie +27 83 2555 287 cell
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Second African Canoe/Kayak Slalom Championships
Cradock South Africa
30 September to 1 October 2009
Canoeing South Africa, ably assisted by the Cradock Canoe Club and Canoeing fraternity successfully stage the second ever African Canoe and Kayak Slalom Championships at the Golf-course rapid in Cradock South Africa on the 30 September and 1 October 2009. The event was held mid week just ahead of the ever popular Hansa Powerade Fish River Canoe Marathon one of South Africa’s premier river marathon events to gain exposure for the exciting Olympic discipline of whitewater slalom racing. The Golf-course rapid was chosen as a suitable venue as a mid class difficulty of whitewater as there was uncertainty regarding the abilities of some of the Competitors from the various African Countries given the limited exposure to high class wild water racing on the continent.
Jonathan Akinyemi
The organising team had carried out an inspection of the possible venues in May and early September of 2009 and chose the Golf Course Rapid but it required considerable work to prepare it for the event. Initially the rapid consisted of two sections of rough water separated by a relatively featureless section of flowing water. Added to this the river banks were inundated with thorn tree vegetation and high phragmites reeds. Here is where the local club jumped into action clearing the banks getting machinery to cut access tracks to the river for the competitors and spectators and arranging for the installation of large concrete blocks as obstacles to create eddies and a small wave train in the featureless midsection of the course. The organising team headed by old campaigner Hugh Raw then erected a pole and cable system on the left bank to enable the gates to be strung at will by the course designers.
The Athletes started to congregate in Cradock from the weekend of 25th26th September 2009 with paddlers from Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya among the first to arrive. The local South African paddlers headed up by the specialist Dihlabeng club also arrived over the weekend and training took place on the rapid in preparation for the event. On Tuesday afternoon the course was closed to competitors while the course designers headed by ICF coach Lionel Lafay from France set the course for the qualifying event on the Wednesday. This event went off smoothly and was somewhat historic in that it was probably the first fully beam timed event on the African continent with paddlers times being recorded by computer from when they crossed a start beam to when they finished by cutting a beam right across the river. This system was developed by local slalom paddler Guy Collyer with assistance from Anthony Wewege. Some drama was introduced by the late announcement that Olympic K1 Bronze medallist Benjamin Boukapeti from Togo was planning to arrive in time for the
Cyprian Ngidi
Semi Final and Final runs on the Thursday. The Nigerians immediately protested against the organisers accepting this entry stating that the event had been properly advertised as having a closing date for entries and that there was a qualification requirement. They submitted a formal protest in this regard and the organising committee after much deliberation upheld their protest.
Needless to say the day of the finals started with drama as Boukapeti had arrived late the evening before to hear that he was potentially disqualified for not attending the qualification event and not formally entering the event. A formal appeal against the decision of the organisers was submitted and after a great deal of consideration including international phone calls etc the appeal was rejected and Boukapeti was invited to compete in a demonstration capacity only.
The racing went off smoothly and the a African K1 Champion was crowned when Johnathan Akinyemi of Nigeria had two runs down the 18 gate course picking up one 2 second penalty in his second run to record a total time of 251.81 seconds in second place overall and a surprise winner in the C1 paddler was South African Olympian Cyprian Ngidi who is traditionally a C2 competitior. Cyprian produced two faultless runs and beat fellow Olympian Master Cele by just under one second in each relegating Cele, the former C1 African Champion and Olympic C1 paddler into second C1 and third place overall with times of 262.36 and 263.10 seconds respectively. Timing accuracies that would not have been possible to separate had it not been for the electronic systems mentioned above. The Junior C1 title went to South African Jabulani Mofokeng. The ladies race was fought out between Ugandan river guide, Prossy Mirembe, and Pietermaritzburg schoolgirl Katy Rennie with the Ugandan consistently six to seven seconds ahead in each run to take the title with Rennie having to settle for second place but first girl. They were the only two ladies to progress from the qualifying event. The C2 event went to the Dihlabeng pair of Cyprian Ngidi and Neto Mokutu ahead of Master Cele and Jabulani Mofokeng. The Junior C2 was won by the Kenyan crew of Alphaxzand Maina and Julius Mattanjamu. In the junior boys category it was an all South Africa all Dihlabeng affair with Success Mahlaba in gold, Mpho Keele in silver and Ngkabe Sefojane in bronze.
Benjamin Boukapeti did paddle the two demonstration runs and showed just why he is an Olympic medallist collecting just one two second penalty and producing the fastest time on the course by six seconds in each run. It is unfortunate that he was excluded however, the organisers were placed in dificult position through no fault of their own and had to make a decision based on the rules set out by the ICF.
NEWS FROM THE 2009 ICF WORLD SLALOM CHAMPIOSHIPS IN
La Seu d'Urgell in Spain
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SA Slalom Canoe Championships 2009 - RESULTS HERE
African Slalom Champs coming to SA
On the 30th of September and 1st of October the Slalom committee of Canoeing South Africa will be holding the second All Africa Canoe/Kayak Slalom Championships in the Karoo town of Cradock. The first African Championships were held in Kenya in 2007. The event is designed to showcase slalom to the greater canoeing community of South Africa and to the South African Olympic committee.
The location and date have been carefully chosen to coincide with the running of the annual international Hansa Powerade Fish River Canoe Marathon on Friday and Saturday 2nd & 3rd October 2009. Extensive support from the Hansa Powerade Fish committee, Canoeing South Africa and the Cradock community will ensure that this event will be one of the most spectator friendly and enjoyable slalom events to date.
Many South African paddlers, tragically, are unfamiliar with canoe slalom. It is hoped that members of the large marathon canoeing contingent will use this opportunity to see what the exciting Olympic sport is about and consider trying their hand at it. The event, although it is an African Championships and as such will be run to full International Canoe Federation standards, is primarily aimed at amateurs and first-timers, so the organisers will accept entries from paddlers in plastic non-competition type kayaks for those who wish to get a taste of the discipline without having to expend large sums of money on new equipment. No entry fee will be charged as another encouragement for paddlers to try their hand at this thrilling and challenging sport.
For those paddlers who do not currently have a Canoeing South Africa river proficiency, but would like to race, a river proficiency test session will be held free of charge on one of the days preceding the event. The infamous Golf Course rapid, where many a canoeist takes their final swim during the Hansa Powerade Fish Marathon, has been chosen as the spot to host this event. It is perfectly situated in Cradock and has enough features to push our top athletes while being of a tame enough nature to allow anyone to attempt the course. For anyone unfortunate enough to take a swim there will be safety kayakers on hand to prevent any mishaps.
Canoe slalom is raced in four classes at the Olympics: K1 Men, K1 Women, C1 Men and C2 Men. All of these classes are raced in South Africa but only by a very small core of dedicated paddlers. Strangely enough, although not practiced extensively in Africa, Canoe slalom is the only Canoeing event that has ever had an African Olympic medallist. This occurred at last year’s Beijing Olympics when Benjamin Boukapeti, the current Africa champion, won the Bronze medal. Boukapeti is a Togolese national but currently races and trains in France.
Internationally, Canoe Slalom is arguably the biggest discipline of canoeing. France alone has more female slalom paddlers than there are canoeists in South Africa! Locally Slalom seems to be making a come back with growth in KwaZulu-Natal and particularly in the Free State with the Dihlabeng Canoe club, who specialise in slalom, going from strength to strength. Currently two out of South Africa’s three Beijing Slalom Olympians race and train with this club. They also have a number of junior national champions in various categories.
Slalom will be raced in a state-of-the-art purpose-built stadium at the London Olympics. Hopefully this event will be the first step for a select few South African athletes on their road to London in 2012. The 2nd All Africa Canoe/Kayak Slalom Championships promises to be an exhilarating and entertaining two days of racing.
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SA SLALOM CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009
Sunday saw the running of the 35th SA slalom Championships on the Ash river between Bethlehem and Clarens in the Free state. The event was contested in all four Olympic classes with paddlers racing kayaks in the K1 men and Ladies class and Canoes in the C1 and C2 classes. The current, standard international format of two qualification runs followed by a course change and then a semi-final and a final run down the 18 gate course was adopted to give the competitors the experience of the stress and strain of a full days racing. Twenty five boats raced the course with a generous representation of junior and development paddlers, no less than fourteen of the boats being crewed by members of the local Dihlabeng club.
The course was set and demonstrated by National Olympic paddler Cameron McIntosh whose vision brought the Dihlabeng development club into existence some two years ago. Overall winner was Michael Watson of WP who posted an extremely quick and penalty free semi-final run of 107.41 seconds matched with a final run with an almost identical running time but with one two second penalty touch to give a race total of 217.13 seconds. In second place was the old campaigner Guy Collyer who missed out on the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Collyer was also responsible for designing and building the computerized electronic timing used for the event. In third position overall was first C1 and Beijing Olympian Master Cele. Cele was the defending champion and had won the preliminaries with ease but succumbed when Watson put the hammer down in the finals. Of interest is that McIntosh, although not officially racing was timed and scored in the two demonstration runs and produced a result that would have placed him second K1 and second overall. Cele was followed in the C1 class by Cyprian Ngidi in sixth position overall and Jabulane Mofokeng in eighteenth overall. All three C1 paddlers are Dihlabeng club members.
The ladies event was a mother and daughter dice, with age and consistency coming through in the final when Nanette Cocksedge, who had been trailing U18 daughter, Katy Rennie, by less than a second in the semi-final benefitted from a lapse in concentration by Katy in the final when marginally off line between gates 2 and 3 Katy ended up giving an impromptu surfing demonstration in the big hole there and losing several seconds and then having to return to negotiate the gate. Katy had also been comfortably ahead to retain the overall junior title she had won last year until this mishap and had to relinquish the trophy to Dihlabeng paddler Nelson Mbele, the first black paddler to hold this trophy. Katy settled for second U18 place overall with Success Mhlaba of Dihlabeng in third slot.
The C2 class was easily won by Beijing Olympian Cyprian Ngidi with U18 newcomer Mteo Mokutu as his new bowman, their only competition in this class being the U21 crew of Iain Rennie and Hayden Jacobs from UKZN. These two paddlers respectively took the U21 gold and silver positions in the K1 event in fourth and fifth positions overall with the bronze in this age class going to Hendrik Sefojane from the local club.
The future of the sport in the U16 category is in the hands of Dihalbeng’s Mpho Cele with the gold, Maritzburg College student Don Wewege taking the silver and Sipho Kambuza another Dihlabeng paddler with the bronze.
It was exciting to see the enthusiasm and depth from the Dihlabeng paddlers and also the number of younger paddlers taking part in this event. Slalom is an extremely tough event roughly the equivalent of a 500m sprint over rough water and with technical manouevers requiring multiple accelerations of the boat during the race. Canoeing South Africa is planning to stage the African Championships just before the Fish marathon in September where the traditional long distance paddlers will be able to get a chance to see just what this exciting Olympic discipline is all about.
Results
Overall
Men. 1. Michael Watson WP 217.13, 2. Guy Collyer(SV) KZ 230.70, 3. Master Cele CD 236.52(1st C1).
Women. 1. Nanette Cocksedge(SM) KZ 300.22, 2. Katy Rennie(U18) KZ 332.75(2nd Junior overall).
Boys U18. Nelson Mbele CD 327.90, 2. Success Mahlaba CD 333.44, 3. Mpho Kele(U16) CD 351.74.
C2. Cyprial Ngidi and Mteo Mokutu CD 283.52, 2. Ian Rennie and Hayden Jacobs(U21) KZ 357.66.
1st U21 Ian Rennie KZ 240.88
1st M Alick Rennie KZ 250.17
Alick Rennie
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Coach Jean-Jerome Perrin with Olympic paddlers Lindelani Ngidi, Siboniso Cele and Cameron McIntosh at the 1st Afrivan Slalom Champs in Kenya in January 2008.
News:
A hearty hello from the AmaDonsaDonsa paddlers!
I trust this reaches you very well indeed. Go make yourself a cuppa and then come and sit down and read this mail, there is lots of news since we last mailed just after the Olympics. For those of you who are getting this for the 1st time welcome to the world of AmaDonsaDonsa. We are an International paddling team and are gearing up for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Some of the highlights of this issue are:
- Master is nominated as a finalist for SA Sportsman of the Year
- Post Olympic update
- The Fish Marathon
- Land Rover G4
- Ardeche Marathon-in a K7!
- What’s next?
Master is nominated as a finalist for the SA Sportsman of the Year
What an honour! Siboniso “Master” Cele saw a slalom canoe for the 1st time in his life 5 years ago. This year he was the first black paddler to ever win a South African title and went on to also with the African Slalom Champs in C1. He was also the 1st African paddler to ever take part in the Olympics in C1. And now the chickens have come home to roost and credit is being given where it is due. Master is one of 5 athletes who has been nominated as the “Newcomer of the Year” in the South African Sportsman of the Year awards. The glitzy event takes place on the 29th of November and now we are all holding our thumbs that he will win. Have a look here for more info: http://www.sasportsawards.co.za
Post Olympic Update
I’ll just quickly run through what the various team members have been up to the past couple months.
Benjamin: Well we now have a celebrity in the team. Ben won Togo’s 1st Olympic medal as well as being the only African to ever win a medal at the Games. He and Jerome went on a “post-Olympic” tour of Togo. By the sounds of things the welcome at the airport was like the Springboks getting back after winning the World Cup!
Jerome: Jerome has also all of a sudden become one of the most sought after coaches in the World. The South Africans were his focus at the Olympics and the success of that project is well known, however he also spent time coaching some other athletes in the build-up. Two of these (Benjamin and Violetta Oblinger-Pieters) each won Bronze medals.
Alain, Nico and Benoit: The guys are getting back into training and will be coming out to South Africa soon
Muh: Muh is back in Germany after his stint with the Chinese Olympic team as one of the coaches
Cyp and Master: The guys are back into their day jobs of working for the Dihlabeng Municipality and coaching the kids at the club.
Cam: I’m hoping to start my Masters is Sports Medicine soon and have been very busy with all the post-Olympic admin, media, thank-you’s, training and the like
The Fish Marathon
The Dihlabeng Municipality and Pepto Pro helped 4 Dihlabeng Slalom Club members (Master, Cyp, Sibusiso and I) to take part in South Africa’s biggest canoe marathon. We put together a nice presentation with some of our Olympic kitt as well as our DVD and many people came to watch. The idea was to mingle with the marathon paddlers as they are the main support base for paddling in South Africa. It was fantastic to see so many old friends and share stories about the Olympics.
Land Rover G4
I had the privilege and honour of being involved in the South African selections for the ultimate adventure race, the Land Rover G4 Challenge (http://www.landroverg4challenge.com) It is a 6 day event where 10 guys and 10 girls fought it out for 2 places in each class. The winners would go to the International Selections in February in the UK. Tasks included paddling, running, mountain biking, orienteering and 4x4. I would say that after the Olympics it was the best week of my year. My role was to look after most of the paddling events and then to be a support driver to the athletes. To be rubbing shoulders with highly motivated and skilled passionate people like Dev Fogg, John and Mark Collins, Martin Dreyer, Chris Crewdson and the like was superb.
Ardeche Marathon in a K7!
The Ardeche Marathon (http://www..marathon-ardeche.com) is arguably the biggest paddling marathon in the World with over 2 000 paddlers taking part. There are all sorts of craft that take part from K1’s to Downriver boats to C8’s and now to the 1st ever K7! It’s made up of AmaDonsaDonsa team members (Benjamin, Benoit, Nico, Alain and I) as well as two other guys. I’m flying out tomorrow night to join the guys and the race is on Saturday. It is sure to pull lots of media coverage with all the big names in the boat!
What’s next?
First up is the Ardeche on Saturday and then a lot of effort is going into the “South African Slalom Race Series” The ICF (International Canoe Federation), CAC (African Canoe Federation) and CSA (Canoeing South Africa) are going to host two International events over the 2009 April School holidays. The 1st race will be the SA Champs and a week later the African Champs. In between will be a training camp for the African nations. Yours truly is the main organiser so I’ve got lots on my plate.
But this all pales into insignificance because of the following. After the Olympics I have been called in to see the Deputy Minister of Sport, the head of the Lotto and the head of Sport and Business Development at the University of the Free State. We are now on the brink of hearing from the Lotto if an application to build a High Performance Center for “Olympic Paddle Sports” in Bethlehem is successful. It will incorporate Rowing, Flat-water Canoeing and Slalom Canoeing where athletes will study through the UFS and have World Class coaching and support. A 2000m World Class Rowing/Flat-water course as well as an artificial rapid will be the key elements. I am super excited as this is something I have been trying to get built for more than a decade and it will revolutionize not only the paddle sports on the African continent but also adventure sports. What is particularly exciting is that the “Big Guns” want it to succeed.....
Finally Jerome and I, as well as some of the International AmaDonsaDonsa members, will be planning our route to London 2012 this week in France. One of the most important issues will be sponsorship as we don’t have key sponsors yet.
Have a superb week
Cameron
Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy
(Winston Churchill, Harrow School, 1941)
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“Making it happen”
http://www.amadonsadonsa.com
Mobile: +27 82 879 6762
Fax: +27 86 655 1130
E-mail:
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Slalom at the Beijing Olympics!
Years of hard work is coming together at the Beijing Olympics. We are competing in the C1 Men (Siboniso "Master" Cele) and the C2 Men (Zindelani "Cyprian" Ngidi and Cameron McIntosh).
Please support them by calling or sending an SMS to +861 364 107 2930!
Their race times are as follows (SA Local Time):
- Monday 11th August, Siboniso Qualification. 1st run starts at 9am and 2nd run at 10:45am
- Tuesday 12th August, Siboniso Semi-final and final. Starts at 9:30am if Siboniso goes through
- Wednesday 13th August, Cyprian and Cameron Qualification.. 1st run starts at 9am and 2nd run at 10:45am
- Thursday 14th August, Cyprian and Cameron Semi-final and final. Starts at 9:30am if we go through
Results for these races can be found HERE.
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Slalom 
