FOLLOWING one of the best Dusi Canoe Marathons in the past decade, endurance paddlers have a two week turnaround before the annual Garden City Commercials Non-Stop Dusi, which gives paddlers the opportunity to tackle the fabled ‘Dusi in a Day’ on Friday, 13 March.
What sets it distinctly apart from the Dusi is the ‘bare-minimum’ set of rules which gives the paddlers a lot of liberty to opt for longer portages that cut out sections of the river, making the course shorter than the Dusi but placing greater demands on the participants’ running strength.
The one rule is that participants have to go under the College Road Bridge at the start, after which they are at liberty to choose their own route, providing they pass through a few compulsory check points.
Euro Steel/Red Bull’s Sbonelo Khwela is in line to become the first paddler to win the Non-Stop Dusi 10 times should he take on the challenge again in 2020.
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Khwela has won, either in a K1 or K2, for the last seven years in a row and has become the undisputed king of the Non-Stop Dusi over the past decade.
Twenty-time finisher of the race Rhys Foster was the first entry into this year’s race and will take it on with partner James Tutton.
This year it is expected that paddlers will receive some much-needed assistance from water releases from Henly Dam and from Inanda Dam, but for Foster the appeal of the event is that it is a take-it-as-it-comes challenge.
The Garden City Commercials Non-Stop Dusi takes places from Camps Drift to Blue Lagoon on Friday 13 March 2020.
Visit: www.nonstopdusi.co.za.
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