Boksburg resident Dawie Gerber made his long-awaited return to action during the South African Canoe Sprint Championships at Germiston Lake in April, after recovering from a shoulder injury.
“Dawie is a long-standing member of the local ERK Canoe Club at Homestead Dam. He made an impressive comeback after he recovered from shoulder injuries and is looking forward to further participation in the sprint field,” said Gauteng Canoe Union media liaison Jennie Dallas.
Gerber, along with others, was in contention for selection to the team that will represent South Africa at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Germany in August.
Also on the line was a potential Olympic Games qualification for the thousands of paddlers who competed in the 200m, 500m and 1 000m sprints, as well as the 5 000m endurance event.
“There were numerous sprint races hosted over the three days event. Each heat had nine lanes to sprint in and nine paddlers lined up to race.
“Each age group had a few heats to enable all participants to race and the top three paddlers in each heat then participated in the semi-finals and finals,” Dallas said.
The event included former world-renowned canoeists Shaun Rubenstein and Nick Arthur who were beaten to the first spot by the team of Benonian Nicholas Weeks and his partner from Paarl Chritjian Coetzee in the 500m K2 doubles sprint.
Weeks, a Benoni High Alumni, has competed in the world championships on three occasions (2016, 2018 and 2019).
“The Gauteng Canoe Union canoeing clubs are also hosting a series of long-distance marathon racing, which include some portages. The final will be hosted by ERK on July 3 and 4.
“The Gauteng team to represent the province in the national marathon championships later in the year will be selected at this event,” concluded Dallas.
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