THE three day Dusi Canoe Marathon is set to start in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday 13 February and end in Durban on Saturday 15 February 2014.
The organisers of the event will enforce tough new rules aimed at clamping down on paddlers flaunting the rules governing the minimum weight of kayaks.
Some paddlers have, in the past, been tempted to race in under-weight kayaks and some have been suspected of disregarding the weight ruling to gain an advantage when carrying their craft on the tactically important long runs.
In previous editions of the race, paddlers had to have their kayaks weighed at the pre-race registration to ensure the craft complied with the minimum weight restriction for 12 kilograms for a single kayak and 18 kilograms for a double. Underweight crafts were then fitted with additional weights to bring their kayaks up to the minimum weight. It has been suspected that some paddlers have removed the additional weights before or during the race to make their craft lighter and easier to carry.
In order to ensure that paddles do not adjust their kayaks’ weight before or during the race, officials will weigh the top five kayaks in the men’s and women’s classes, as well as the juniors’ kayaks and other kayaks selected at random at the end of every day’s racing.
The new race rules have been put into place not only to ensure that the race is as fair as possible, but also as safe as possible. “The Dusi is raced over three days of tough river conditions, and light boats represent a serious safety risk as they don’t stand up to battering from rocks on the river, and increase the risk of entrapment in the kayak if it gets pinned and broken against rocks,” said race committee head, Brett Austen-Smith.
“There is a huge amount of prestige attached to winning the Dusi, not to mention the substantial prize-money, so it is essential that any athlete aspiring to win this race, does so without getting any unfair advantage,” he added.
The 2014 Dusi will be a K2 championship year, therefore, the enforcement of this new rule will be critical, as there is more opportunity for paddlers to exploit weight savings in a K2 than in a K1 kayak.
