THE two day Klip River race, over the weekend of January 30 and 31, was the last river race in Gauteng prior to the FNB Dusi and was an important training race. This opportunity provided tough, challenging, demanding and exhausting technical stretches, numerous obstacles to climb in and out or around, some awesome rapids with massive stopper waves and huge drops and holes that swallowed paddlers whole, as well as long distance and flat grueling slogs.
A number of paddlers from Mpumalanga, Natal and the Cape participated in the event as their own rivers have been dry due to drought conditions.
Despite the rough and turbulent waters, numerous obstacles and long distance, the Turffontein based Mike Forshaw, who has numerous years of experience on rivers including the Dusi, and his young learner partner from Parys, Shane van Dam, who will do his first Dusi river race, enjoyed their tough river challenge, finishing in a time of 7:16 minutes.
