Two of KZN’s canoeing events postponed
The MyLife Dusi Canoe Marathon and the Stihl Umkomaas Marathon dates have been moved.
WITH the spike in Covid-19 cases in KwaZulu-Natal and around the country, Canoeing South Africa has pre-emptively shifted two of the events by five weeks and will reorganise its calendar of races.
“We are in the eye of the storm, and the paddling community, like the whole of the country, is getting daily tragic reminders of how serious this virus is,” said Canoeing South Africa’s president, Kim Pople. “We have to be responsible and try and lead by example as a sporting federation.”
Pople confirmed that an agreement was reached to move the popular MyLife Dusi Canoe Marathon to 18 to 20 March and the Stihl Umkomaas Marathon to 27 and 28 March 2021.
“The calendar will be totally redrafted. There will be events that will fall away and others that move to new dates. We will do our best to ensure that we can keep the sport alive while being fully compliant with the prevailing regulations,” she added.
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Pople noted that KwaZulu-Natal had, so far, enjoyed one of its wettest summers in more than a decade and, as more dams fill, the ability to move major river races to alternate dates later in the summer would be possible.
“Paddlers have been able to continue their training by using their CSA membership permits while the current rule closing rivers, dams and beaches to public access is in force,” said Pople.
“To be able to even look at staging races, we have a lot of factors to take into consideration.
“Medical services are under severe strain and we need to respect the amazing work our front line health care workers are doing.”
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She also highlighted the ethical reason behind the decision.
“We cannot create an event that might turn into a super-spreader, not matter how desperate we are to paddle,” said Pople. “This is a complex and evolving situation, and we simply ask all our paddlers to be fully respectful of the requirements in place to enable them to train and, when we get to that point, to take part in races again.”
As infections rise throughout the country, many paddlers have also been affected by Covid-19 and event organiser, Shane Le Breton, said the postponement of the event had a strong silver lining.
“It’s an extra month to prepare for all paddlers but especially those that have been affected by Covid-19. This extra month of training will help in making up for the time lost during the current regulations where people aren’t allowed to paddle.”
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
