Boksburg trio complete their 10th Dusi race
The traditional Dusi race was started in 1961 by Ian Player, brother to iconic golfer Gary. He did it with a handful of buddies, taking them six days to complete the course.
The FNB Dusi, one of the world’s toughest canoeing endurance races, took place between Valentine’s Day and the 16th in KwaZulu-Natal.
With heavy rains causing huge water waves at various rapids, it was just what the doctor had ordered as paddlers enjoyed the challenge of a 120km stretch from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.
The enjoyment was tastier for Boksburg trio Richard Tandy, Leon Maritz and Bob Harvey, all of whom received badges for their 10th Dusi completion.
Tandy began river canoeing back in 2009, translating to 10 successful finishes in as many years.
Harvey took double the time to earn the award; he did, however, lose his partner, who went overseas.
Harvey has done five K1 Dusi races and five K2 in the past 20 years. His current partner, Maritz, took 11 years to receive the same award, having been airlifted out of the river back in 2010 after losing his boat.
Interestingly enough, Harvey also had to be airlifted out of the Dusi Valley of a Thousand Hills in 2014. Both he and Maritz completed the 2019 in a K2 (double kayak boat) in a time of 17 hours and 17 minutes over the three days, to end as the 231st double kayak across the finish line.
They were the 41st master age (over 50 years old) category finishers, earning them both their Green Number Dusi Rat award for 10 finishes.
The boats in the early days of the Dusi were heavy and made of wood and canvas and therefore were not suitable to shoot most of the treacherous and technical rapids, nor was there any water release from dams. Paddlers were forced to carry their boats around numerous rapids.
These days, however, while some of those rapids are certainly enjoyable to racers in fiberglass kayaks, the tradition remains the same.
The paddlers still carry their boats around most of those same rapids, intensifying the endurance aspect of the race, and that is what the Dusi is all about.
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