Hi ,

Well!!!!!!! That's it!!!!! The river season for most of the country has come to an end. The Umko is a  distant memory, and the Tugela was cancelled.

In the small enclave south of the hottentots, where the weather patterns (amongst a host of other things) are not in kilter with the rest of the country, the river season is about to kick off.

For most of our elite paddlers, the emphasis now switches to sprinting, marathon and surfski.

If the number of nominations received for "green and gold" hopefuls is any indication of the enthusiasm for the upcoming national events, we are in for a cracker couple of months.

We kick off this weekend with provincial sprint championships for both KZN and Western Cape.

The Easter weekend will give all our paddlers a brief respite before all hell breaks loose.

Starting from the weekend after, we have 3 national championships within one week, followed by two championships on the consecutive weeks.

The SA Schools and SA sprint championships will be held at the Lomond wine estate from the 23rd to the 25th. These events will be used to select all of our national sprint teams for the year, including the Olympic Hopes tour.

After a single day's break the SA double ski championships will be held in conjunction with the iconic Freedom Paddle, where paddlers are given the opportunity to paddle around Robben Island.

Ski paddlers may as well not even change out of their paddling kit after this, as a mere 2 days later they will be lining up for the SA single ski championships, which will double as the selection race to choose the national team that will represent the country at the world championships, to be held in Portugal in early October.

With the Monday following that event being a public holiday, some of the marathon paddlers may well just set up camp in the mother city, as the WP marathon championships will be held the next weekend (as will the GCU marathon championships). This event is being used to select the 2 lucky individuals (1 male, 1 female), who will represent SA at the World Games to be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA at the beginning of July.

The following weekend will see paddlers from KZN lining up for their marathon championships, which will be held at the beautiful Hazelmere dam.

I got tired just typing that. Can't imagine what our paddlers are going to feel like. Especially with so much on the line for many of them.

Whilst these fantastic opportunities are open to our elite paddlers, I cannot help but wonder what the mindset is of our average (very non elite) paddler.
Have we lost the adventurous spirit that has been the hallmark of our sport over the past few decades.

The Umkomaas marathon, held a couple of weeks ago is a case in point. The most fantastic and exciting river in the country. A superbly full level, with clean water and terrific organisation. And we had the lowest entry in the last 20 years. Only 54 boats entered the race. In 2016 there were 130 that finished. In it's heyday, the race had batches that resembled the Fish.

The Tugela was cancelled this year.

We are losing our paddling heritage which has defined us for so long. It is very sad.

On another sad note. We are losing the voice of canoeing. In many respects, the voice of sport in South Africa. Dave MacLeod (or Dave MacClown as Scatter calls him) is leaving our shores to take up residency in the land of the maple leaf.

Only the legendary John Oliver is more of an institution in our sport than Dave.

He has been around for as long as most of us can remember.

He has done the most number of Drak Challenges than anyone, and fell in love with the town where it is situated.

He is as spectacularly unskilled at paddling, as he is on the golf course. However, with a microphone in his hand, he is the Hank McGregor of commentary.

He is the only person who I have ever seen ad lib a 10 minute interview without stuttering or stammering, making it pertinent and exciting.

We have been fortunate that someone with his talents has been aligned to our sport. His in depth knowledge of the paddlers and the rivers have made his contribution all the more relevant.

The tent at the Drak prize giving is going to feel empty without him.

Travel well young David. The sport will be poorer without you.

Until next week

Your SG
Copper
1111

Woops!! Almost forgot the joke.

Billy stops Paddy in Dublin and asks for the quickest way to Cork.
Paddy says, "Are you on foot or in the car?"
Billy says, "In the car."
Paddy says, "Yep, that's the quickest way".