Canadian canoeing to gain popularity in SA

Following South Africa’s success at the International Canoeing Federation (ICF) Canoe Marathon World Championships in Oklahoma City in September, where the men’s kayak team claimed the world number one ranking, Canoeing South Africa (CSA), together with the ICF, is making a push to popularise Canadian canoeing in South Africa.

Canadian canoeing, in which paddlers have one knee on the floor of the canoe and a paddle which is used to paddle on only one side of the craft, is a relatively unexplored avenue for South Africans, but it is slowly gaining some traction as efforts to support its development are being made.

CSA General Manager, Colin Simpkins said South Africa is getting set to host continental and World Cup events over the next three years at the Natal Canoe Club (NCC) in Pietermaritzburg, culminating in the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in 2017.

The ICF has been the primary driver of the discipline. “They’re offering coaching, and we flew two guys, Philip van Tonder and Sam Phungula to Morocco earlier in the year. Now they have sent Hungarian Canoe Federation’s Gabor Szalay, who won national titles in C1, C2 and C4 competition, and also claimed a bronze medal at the World Championships, out here to help build up the C1 [Canadian singles canoeing],” said Simpkins.

Szalay helped Vietnam prepare for the 2013 South East Asian Championships, and was in South Africa to run coaching events at NCC and in Johannesburg. Szalay’s work includes coaching coaches, while also exploring the development ranks to unearth talent to compete in Canadian canoeing.

“The ICF would like to see a big entry for the World Championships and World Cups, and South Africa hasn’t got a specialist canoeing team for Canadian canoeing. I would like to show them how to prepare for the competition, teach them techniques, how to use the equipment and more,” explained Szalay. “I would like to teach them how to be competitive at the World Marathon Championships.”

Simpkins said it would take some time for the discipline to make inroads.

“I think it is going to be difficult, but if we can foster this and build it up we will have more guys taking part, especially on the development side,” he said. “We will have more guys eligible for national teams. Hopefully we’ll expand the discipline. It will be a bit of an uphill battle in this country where most of the enjoyment comes out of paddling in rivers, and you can’t paddle C1s in rivers. They’re flat-water boats.”

The early focus of the Canadian canoeing expansion will be on sprinting, but marathons will also be explored, with paddlers often able to translate the skills of one to the other.

NCC General Manager, Brett Austen Smith, the man behind South Africa’s successful bid for the 2017 ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships, said the Canadian canoeing courses will take matters step by step to develop potential in the right way. “We’re starting from the basics. We’re interested in getting the programme going. In 2017 my goal is to have two representatives in the seniors, under-23s and juniors at the World Championships.”

Szalay warned hard work lies ahead for the South African paddlers who are taking on Canadian canoeing.

“Canoeing is not an easy sport because you need to maintain a good balance. You need a lot of power and endurance. You need to sleep enough, eat healthily, you should avoid cigarettes and alcohol, and you should train as well as you possibly can, to your maximum ability every session,” he said.