THE battle lines have been drawn as teams prepare for this year’s Tugela Raft Race in Mandeni on March 29. The Mandini Round Table invites you to join them for their 46th Mandini Tugela Raft Race, for 17km of rafting pleasure. The race start is in Mandini, ±100km north of Durban on the Natal North Coast. The cost is R850 per raft with 2 to 12 crew members per raft. Life jackets are recommended as we do not like to feed the crocodiles.
If you don’t have a raft, join us on a tube for R150 per tube
Multi-time champions, Renkens Spar and Powerspares, who are also sponsors, have started putting their armour together in line with this year’s theme, Battleship.
“We have been entering the race for the past 13 years but missed last year’s competition because of unavoidable circumstances but this year we are read to take the trophy,” said director of Powerspares, Shokes Naidoo.
Naidoo will not be rafting with his team for the first time this year as he will be riding a jet-ski to assist rescue teams safeguard participants. He said he was not worried though because his team had “the blood of rafting champions running through their veins”.
“This year’s race is in honour of former president, Nelson Mandela and what greater way for us to pay our respects to a great leader then winning the Tugela Raft Race,” said Naidoo.
Renkens Spar’s managers, Grand Griesel and Henry Mclean said their teams have won the race five times without any pre-race training.
“I have personally taken part 17 times but have been part of the whole Tugela Raft Race experience for 19 years through the Mandeni Round Table,” said Mclean.
Race deets
Registration is open from 5pm to 9pm on Friday, March 28 and 6am to 9.30am on the day of the race. For information contact Mduduzi Manzi on 032-456 8200/ 078 655 1347 or Phumulile Mhlongo on 073 175 3650 or Donavan Paton 083 796 7032.
History of the race
- The Tugela raft race originated back in 1965, when a small group decided to have an adventure on the Tugela river, from Mandini to the river mouth. Now, years later the event has grown into one of the biggest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
- Soon the race saw various companies sponsoring rafts, as well as individual rafts competing, and the field of competitors eventually grew to over four hundred entrants. This forced the organizers to limit the number of entries to two hundred and fifty, in the interest of public safety.
- The Tugela Raft Race has only been cancelled three times in it’s history, due to low water levels.
