The marathon consists of 120km of gruelling cross-country and wild white water rapids, over the three days from Thursday, February 13 to Saturday, February 15, along the Msunduzi River, from Pietermaritzburg to the Blue Lagoon, on the beachfront, in Durban.
Bader finished in 439th position out of some 775 boats in a K2 year, where the majority of boats were doubles, in an overall time of 13 hours and five minutes, as the 21st single canoe, and as the eighth Sub Grand Master age category finisher (between 55 and 60 years old).
The club’s top finisher was, as expected, Michael Stewart, who partnered with Cape-based paddler Brandon Collyer, previously from Germiston, to finish in a top 50 silver Dusi medal position, in 39th place, with an overall time of nine hours and 20 minutes.
Jade and Grant Morshead, a father and daughter team, also finished the race successfully, in 649th position, while Donna Tutton competed in the women’s category with a KwaZulu-Natal-based female partner.
Numerous paddlers from the East Rand area successfully finished the race, although one pair, Bob Harvey and Tony Ferguson, were rescued by helicopter when they were stranded on a rock island, on an unpaddled stretch of the river for four hours, having lost their broken boat, which washed away in the strong current.
