Canoeists prepare for the big Dusi
A two-hour Junior Enduro competition also took place, enabling the young paddlers who participate in the Gauteng Canoe Union School League to enjoy and develop their endurance ability.
With the Dusi river race from Pietermaritzburg to Durban scheduled to take place in late February, canoeists are caught up in fitness and endurance fever in preparation for the gruelling competition.
The Dabulamanzi Canoe Club, based at Emmarentia Dam, hosted a four-hour Enduro relay event where paddlers could either paddle for four hours and see how many laps they could clock, or they could do the event in a relay team with anything from one to four persons in the team, paddling in single (K1 kayaks), double (K2 kayaks) or K3 (kayaks plus a K1 kayak) to clock the most laps, depending on their fitness.
There was a lot of enjoyment, fun and camaraderie on the water as it was not a serious seeding race, but about fitness and stamina, with speed.
A number of paddlers who are members of the local Benoni-based canoe club, at Homestead Dam – East Ekurhuleni Kayak Club (formerly known as East Rand Kayak; ERK), participated in the endurance team event and paddlers from the East Rand area surrounding the dam where they train.
Boksburg residents Colin Wilson and Nic Oldert partnered with young u-21 Liam Stewart, a member of the ERK Club, and his partner Ryan Ziervogel from the South of Johannesburg, who plan to do their first Dusi together.
The team counted 47 laps in the four hours, but the timing system battery collapsed at the event and there are no confirmed records of position finishes.
