The race stretched from Reitz in the Free State and ended in Tweeling, about 45km from Frankfort.
The river water is pumped from the Lesotho Highlands project into the Ash near Clarens and flows into the Liebensbergvlei through Bethlehem and the Free State into the Vaal Dam.
It’s an exciting stretch of clean fresh water with rolling wave trains, a few shootable weirs and some fun whitewater – while enjoyable, it is quite challenging for novices in their first months of river racing.
K3 friends in the Grand Master category, Franz Fischer from Bedfordview, Rodney Carpenter from Benoni and Vincent Buttrick from Boksburg have been paddling for years and have long ago mastered the rapids quite successfully.
Buttrick also paddles flat water long distance marathon races and was a medal achiever at the ICF World Marathon Championships event, which took place in Pietermaritzburg in September. Carpenter and Buttrick are members of the Benoni-based Homestead Dam East Rand Kayak Club.
The K3 team finished the 31km race in 10th position in a time of 2:15:00 as the first Grand Master age category winners (all in the boat over 60 years old). – @SabeloBoksburg
