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Late Saturday afternoon, the curtain fell on the 75th edition of the Dusi canoe marathon.
Some pre-dusk arrivals had a long day at the office, as did many on the two previous days.
As always there were some classic tales of courage, determination, and fortitude, and a number of milestones and remarkable achievements thrown into the mix as well.
First and foremost, the almost incredible statistic of 16 wins by Andy Birkett.
If someone had told the ballies, who were around in the era of “The Pope”, that someone was going to break his record of 15 wins, within the next couple of decades, they would have suggested incarceration at the hospital on Town Hill.
Those who have participated in the event, even once, will attest to how demanding and challenging it is. To win it, on a single occasion, would be an absolute dream for almost all of us.
If comments made at the post-race interviewed are to be believed, Andy’s rivals will have to live with the distinct possibility that he will still be around for a number of years to come. Twenty sounds like a nice round number.
The men’s race was a super exciting tussle for the first two days, with Sbonelo Khwela and Msawenkosi Mtolo, giving Andy and his rock solid partner, Matt Fenn, a lot to think about. The writing, however, was on the wall when the elastic snapped before the trudge across the dam on the second day. The healthy time gap going into the last day gave the East London pair some breathing room and allowed them to enjoy the run into Durban.
Third place overall, Bongani Ntinga and Sandile Mtolo made it a family affair on the podium and had a stormer on the third day, posting the second-fastest time, only a minute behind the winners.
However, of the two gender tussles, the women’s race provided the most excitement.
An absolute cat and mouse tactical affair, with some risks and mistakes by both.
After finishing together after the second day, with the lead swapping on numerous occasions, Abby Solms and Robyn Groenink were going to have to find something special on the last day, to wrestle the gold medal from Saskia Hockly and Christie MacKenzie.
The risk of shooting the Pumphouse Weir and Rapid brought them within a whisker of climbing back onto the wave of the leaders, which could have been their lift to a potential end sprint. The slight gap was all that the marathon specialists needed though, and they took full advantage.
The fact that the two women’s crews finished in 17th and 18th position, overall (putting a lot of men’s noses out of joint), bears testament to the superb standard at the sharp end of the women’s field. This was further borne out by the fact that the women’s winners had the 12th fastest time on the final day.
Amy Hulett and Sarah Jones took the bronze, albeit a further hour and a quarter behind.
Siyabonga Ndlovu and Sbonelo Dube raced superbly to win the junior category and finished in seventh overall in the process.
They managed to stretch a gap of over 10 minutes on second place Keegan Vogt and Ryley Smith, who secured the last of the top ten gold medals.
Tessa Salmon and Olivia McKenzie won the junior girls, ahead of Keira Hunter and Libby Ross.
The organisers did a fantastic job, and were blessed with three days of superb weather, with an overnight downpour before the third day, ensuring a great water level for the most exciting stretch of rapids.
A superb job was made of the highlights package, for those who have not yet managed to see it.
A significant improvement in the race entry numbers, with a load of novices, augers well for the future. Next year, 500 and more.
While some will be lying on their couch for the next few weeks (with a Dusi medal hanging around their necks that may require surgical removal), many will be moving on to fresh challenges. Looking at the calendar, we are not deficient in this regard.
With the Western Cape holding its provincial sprint championships over the past weekend (see below), it will be the turn of KZN this coming weekend.
The KNCU sprint championships will be held on the Wembley Dam, just outside Greytown, on Saturday and Sunday.
In the recent warm-up event, there were 170 entries, with 67 of these being guppies.
With the Dusi out of the way, and only just over a month to the SA Sprint Championships, one would think that the entry this weekend will be even better.
The Western Cape held a successful but fairly small sprint champs at Springfontein Wine Estate on the Klein River with the following report from the union.
This was a new venue for the Western Cape being tested as a possible venue for future sprint events. The deep water and near straight track were appreciated by Western Cape competitors.
A tail-wind in the earlier part of the day saw fast times in the 1000m and 500m distances, before easing out for the later events.
Uli Hart had a bit of relaxed training in the senior events joined by visiting international Jonathan Dagnæs. Matthew Coetzer, visiting from Plett, set the pace in the U23 closely followed by local Stanford paddler Sibongeleni Mzimba.
Extra entertainment was provide when Hayward Gibson from Stanford smashed the 200m start and his paddle to take a welcome – or not – swim as afternoon temperatures climbed!
The girls U16 was a strongly contested battle with Hanna Solomon edging out in the longer distances and Bella Stallard holding first place in the shorter distances. Unfortunately only one paddler in the ladies U18, but Isabella Strydom looks on track for a strong performance at SA Sprints.
The boys U14 age group saw most entries for the day, needing heats and a final to decide the champion. Sakhe Tshayela laid down a strong claim to first step on the podium and looks strong for SAs. Sakhe, in his second U14 year was chased home by by Ben Farrel and Ozzy Stead in their debut U14 event.
From a national perspective, the 2026 SA Polo champs will be held at Ratanga Park in Century City from the 27th of Feb to the 1st of March. This event is being held in collaboration with the Century City sports festival and will be the second time SA Champs is hosted at this venue. Results can be followed by clicking this link.
Over 80 participants from four different unions are expected, with defending champions Gauteng Men, looking to retain their title for another year, but will face a strong challenge from WP men who will be looking to win their first title since 2018.
In the women’s category, expect a fierce battle between the WP U21 women, WP women and Gauteng U21 women for the title. With the national U21 Women’s team receiving sponsorship from the ICF for the World Championships later this year, our U21 women around the country are pushing hard to be part of our first ever U21 women’s team at World Championships level.
The polo clubs around the country have been working on growing the sport at a junior level and this is very evident at this year’s championships with more than 75% of the field being U18.
If you are in the area this weekend, we highly recommend popping into Ratanga park for some impressive polo games!
Back to river racing.
The decent water on the third day of the Dusi will hopefully inspire a number of novices to take the next logical step and tackle the Umko.
Only 20 days to the exhilarating, premier, long distance, big water, race in the world.
Each and every year I say the same thing “you can’t consider yourself a paddler, in this country, until you have completed at least one Umko.”
If a tired old kwagga like myself can be starting his 40th Umko, there is no reason why almost anyone can’t be on the line with me.
There is a social trip being organised from Josephines Bridge on Saturday the 7th. A great time to experience this majestic valley in a non competitive atmosphere.
Once you have had a trip down the river, you will realise that all the war stories you have heard are without substance. Bring a stable boat with lots of buoyancy and have a blast.
If you want to be even more adventurous, you can enter the Mbangwa’s to Josephines the following day.
Onto some housekeeping admin.
The selection documents for the major world championships, across most of the disciplines, have been loaded onto the website.
The entries for SA Sprints and SA Marathon Championships have been opened.
The disciplines are also calling for applications for the position of manager for a number of the teams to World Championships and other events.
These adverts have also been placed on the website. |
