AS entries pour in for the Non Stop Dusi Canoe Marathon on Friday 28 February, female paddlers have made a bold statement via both the quality and quantity of women committed to taking on the traditionally tougher version of the three day marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.
Five time Dusi Canoe Marathon winner Robyn Kime will look to claim her second Non-Stop Dusi title in 2014 after smashing the women’s record in a K1 in her maiden attempt at the race in 2012.
After clinching her third consecutive K2 Dusi title with partner Abbey Ulansky and fifth race title in total just days ago, Kime was set to embark on the adventure of a lifetime shortly after the iconic three day paddling adventure which would have seen her likely to spend much of the next 12 months sailing to and hiking and mountain climbing around South America.
Last minute changes though ended Kime’s adventure travel ideas temporarily and so, having also just completed the 230km Drakensberg Grand Traverse with her brother, Lance, and boyfriend Michael Owen, Kime will in fact now take part in this year’s Non-Stop Dusi.
Kime’s fellow competitor Abby Adie will look to bury her disappointment of narrowly missing out on a maiden Dusi victory when she and Anna Adamová of the Czech Republic came bitterly close just a few days ago.
The result handed Adie her sixth consecutive second place Dusi finish, something she wants to help erase from her memory. Now she’s doing it with her twin sister, Alex.
“I’m really excited to be paddling Non-Stop with Alex (Adie),” said Abby. “I wondered around in a dwell for two days after Dusi, that’s how disappointed I was but after that I decided that Dusi had come and gone and there was nothing that could be done about it anymore.
“It would be really nice to finish off the KZN river season with a good result at Non-Stop though!”
Hilary Bruss, is another who will definitely be on this year’s Non-Stop Dusi start line however what boat she will be in is still yet to be decided.
“I’ll definitely be racing Non-Stop this year but its just whether I’ll be paddling a mixed double with Kevin Musgrave or doing it one my own in my K1,” explained Bruss.
“It would be really exciting to paddle with Kev but I seem to have picked up a bit of a lean this season and so would be nervous getting into a boat with someone else and making them have to deal with my lean for nine hours.
“Racing on your own is also such a special adventure. The whole journey is just so unpredictable and you’re just really racing against your body more than anything else, especially in a K1, which really is pretty unique,” she added.
