Successful 63kms of canoeing
Morgan Ziervogel finished in pole position in the mixed boat category.
THE VKB Liebensbergvlei River Marathon took from place on September 15, a two-day river race covering 63kms.
Morgan Ziervogel, top woman paddler from Alberton, who for some years in Gauteng has achieved a reputation on rivers, sprints, marathons, and has recently returned from the international sprint competition in Bulgaria, joined a top men’s K3, which included international marathon multiple podium position holder Dave Hamilton-Brown, as well as Gerhard Moolman, to compete at the SA K3 Championships event.
They finished the 63kms two-day event in four hours and eight minutes, as the winning mixed boat, male/female combination, and as the third podium position SA K3 champion winners.
The race was hosted by the Dabulamanzi Canoe Club based at Emmarentia and has achieved great success with sponsorship from VKB and support to the local communities providing meals, accommodation and entertainment.
Paddlers started the race at the Reitz waterworks, on the way towards Bethlehem in the Free State, and finished in Tweeling on the first day and in Frankfort on day two. The first day was very exciting with superb white water rapids and wave trains while the second day was flat water and a tough workout.
The river water is pumped into the Ash River near Clarens, from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, and is icy cold even as it flows into the Liebensbergvlei through Bethlehem towards the Gauteng dams.
This river race was designated as the SA K3 Championship event so establish the best K3 paddlers in SA.
The three-man boat was initiated and built in South Africa many years ago as a tool to offer opportunities for novices to be escorted in a safe situation on big whitewater rapids, however, it has since evolved and sleeker faster racing K3s have also been built.
Weirs can be very dangerous as they have a “suck back” effect where paddlers can be caught in the current, recirculated and drowned, so the paddlers had to grit their teeth and wait their turn in a queue, to shoot the weir safely on the far river left side where a wall separates an overflow from the weir turbulence.
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