UMHLANGA resident Christie Mackenzie and Mount Moreland resident Saskia Hockly have confirmed they will team up for this year’s edition of the Fish River Canoe Marathon from October 6 to 7.
The duo both secured medals at the recent ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Denmark and will be hoping to draw on that success for the two-day marathon.
“We just kind of knew that we were going to paddle Fish together, to be honest,“ Mackenzie said. “I’ve been training with Matt (Bouman) and the squad for a year now, and Saskia and I jumped in the boat before SA Marathons, and we felt comfortable together.
“We will want to get into a river together to test our water wings, but at the moment, we feel comfortable, and we will have a bit of time to train before we head to Cradock this year.”
In years past, paddlers that have paddled in the World Marathon Champs have had a race against time to get to Cradock in time for the start of the Fish. This year is different, and Mackenzie is looking forward to a more relaxed build-up.
“It’s nice that we will have some time to train together after Worlds and before Fish, because that hasn’t been the case in the past. I’m excited about having a nice gap between getting back from Denmark and then getting to Cradock,” she added.
“This year, we have a nice break in between, so I can get back into work and get my mind right for the next race. It’s also tiring because your build-up is never as good as you would want. It will be nice to build up again for Fish and then taper again before the race this year,” she said.
Mackenzie has one winner’s medal in a K2 with Bridgitte Hartley, and she is eager to add another one to the handful of silver medals she has. Mackenzie believes she should have a better record at the Klein Karoo classic.
“I’ve been known to swim quite a bit in the past, and I think that is changing as I gain more confidence in myself, and training in Durban has put me in a different headspace. Training in the ocean has definitely helped my river skills, as well, because the ocean is a scary place for me. My swimming has let me down in the past, and in the last year, it’s slowly started to come right, and it’s shown in the Drak and Dusi this year with the big water levels,” she said.
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