Local canoeist Warren McKenzie teamed up with Shelley Robertson from Centurion and Moshe Nghomane from Roodepoort to finish the K3 event in a time of four hours and 46 minutes at the annual Two Day Klip River race held on Saturday, January 25.
The first boat across the finish line after two days of furiously fighting white water rapids brought in top East Rand paddlers from Benoni, Michael and his son Liam Stewart in three hours 34 minutes for both days, and a number of paddlers from Soweto followed them across the finish line.
Warren and Moshe are both members of the Florida Lake Canoe Club (FLCC) based in Roodepoort while their female teammate Shelley from the North is one of only two women to have finished both days.
Gauteng Canoe Union spokesperson Jennie Dallas said the annual Two Day Klip River race is held from Daleside through Henley on Klip to Meyerton and covers a distance of some 33km with a 3km portage where paddlers take their boats out of the water and run, walk or crawl a few kilometres to put them in again after the Henley Weir where the high water levels from heavy rainfalls in the previous weeks washed over, creating potential danger.
“The water levels were high and enjoyable but not as huge as the previous January – nevertheless the paddlers made the best of the opportunity to enjoy the river race which would be used as a seeding and training race for the upcoming Dusi River race – the world’s toughest endurance canoe race from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on February 17 to February 19.”