The Johannesburg Canoe Club hosted the SA K2 River Championship race on the Vaal River, recently, over a distance of some 67km.
Under-23 development paddlers Katiso Hlahatsi and Colin Ledwaba, from Victoria Lake Canoe Club, joined forces to take on the race.
They finished as the third u-23 team, securing a podium position by finishing in a time of three hours and 16 minutes over the two days.
For months, South African paddlers were concerned and dubious about whether the Vaal Marathon would take place and would successfully be the hosting race for the SA K2 River Championships event, due to the drought and excessively low level of the Vaal Dam.
The water level in the barrage section of the Vaal River, below the dam wall, has, however, been relatively full during past weeks, due to all the rainfall which did not pour into the Vaal Dam catchment area, but below, into the Vaal River, from the Klip, filling the barrage containment, above Parys.
The canoe race started just below the barrage, in good, swift water, at the Cote de Val resort, and finished on day one, after 37kms, at Smilin’ Thru resort, with happy, smiling, cheerful paddlers, despite the long, hard slog.
Many achieved their best performing times for that distance, i.e. 17 to 18km per hour, with more than the 80 cubic metres per second promised.
Things, unfortunately, changed dramatically overnight, due to the deluge of water which arrived from Johannesburg and surrounding areas into the barrage catchment, forcing water management to open sluices and release 300 cubic metres per second, while paddlers in Parys overnight watched with concern as the river water levels rose, and rose, to more than 2m, sloshing over the banks in some areas.
This made the river in Parys a potentially dangerous stretch of wild water, with massive trees and debris also washed downstream, in the fast flowing water.
The race organisers had no choice but to reroute the race to above Parys, avoiding the fun, exciting white water section, where massive boulders were covered by layers of water and a swim would be potentially disastrous.
The race was, therefore, shortened on day two, from 30km to a mere 10km stretch, from Smilin’ Thru to the Likkewaan Kanoe Klub, just at the outskirts of Parys.
Paddlers were forced to paddle upstream against the strong current for a couple of kilometres, to spread the field, and the strong and tough triumphed, while other paddlers were quite exhausted until they could use the fast flow to their advantage on their way to Parys.
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