THE Johannesburg Canoe Club (JCC) was the first, original canoe club set up in Johannesburg back in the 1940s organising an array of events.
The club has hosted and organised the Vaal River Canoe Marathon every year for 69 years in different water levels over these years, with or without a water release from a dam.
This year’s water level was the usual low 16 cumecs and paddlers found themselves getting stuck on rocky shallow sections needing to portage their boats over rocks and islands in a couple of places, although they were able to paddle through most of the 70kms of the race, over the two days, from June 30 and July 1, with the most splendid Gauteng winter sunshine and warmth.
The camaraderie among the paddlers and the friendly assistance available whenever needed added to the enjoyment of the tough resistant slog of the training provided by the Vaal River, with the first day being 36km, and the second day 24km. Day one started at the dam wall and finished at the Three Rivers/Klip River junction and day two started at the Cote de Val, finishing at Smilin’ Thru resort above Parys.
It was the first tough two-day event on the training calendar with a number of others to follow as paddlers head towards the SA K1, K2 and K3 championship river events lined up in the months ahead.
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