Berea residents paddle Dusi as a team
These Berea residents will be among the paddles crossing the finish line at Blue lagoon this weekend.
GLENWOOD resident, Louisa Van Staden along with race partner and Morningside resident, Wilma Deyzell, are taking part in the 2022 MyLife Dusi Canoe Marathon.
This year marks the 71st year of the iconic paddling race that covers roughly 120km of river between Pietermaritzburg and Durban.
“We have been paddling partners for many different canoe races for about 10 years,” said Van Staden, who has lived in Glenwood for 40 years.
She has completed six Dusi Marathons in the last 15 years while Deyzell paddled the marathon every year for the last 13 years. The pair began training for this year’s marathon in October, last year.
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“We started our training in October 2021 when we did the Fish Canoe Marathon, Craddock. We have continued our training since then, by doing most of the pre-Dusi qualifying races including the Fast Drak in December 2021, and Drak Challenge in January 2022,” said Van Staden.
She recently added cardio to her fitness regime to ensure she will be able to meet the demands of the race ahead. “We just added running to the paddling schedule, to cope with the very demanding portages, especially on the first two days of the Dusi,” said Van Staden.
The pair train six times a week. “We mostly train by paddling from Blue Lagoon, and running from wherever we can. We also use a surf ski and open water swimming as part of the training which we do from Durban Undersea Club,” said Van Staden.
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As they prepared for the race, health and safety was a concern. “A really big concern for me, is the water quality due to high E.coli levels. The portages are challenging, as they are often muddy and slippery with steep hills,” said the paddler.
She and Deyzell hope to complete the race in less than 16 hours.
“We will be happy to finish the marathon in 14 – 15 hours across the three day race,” she said.
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