Taylor brothers revel in Dusi successes

DURBAN North brothers, Duane and Jody Taylor, have had a great start to the 2020 canoeing calendar. The brothers finished 37th in a K2 canoe at the Dusi Canoe Marathon, earning them a silver medal their best result ever as pair, and seventh at the Non-Stop Dusi two weeks ago, also their best results as a pair.

The Taylors have been involved in a few events where they have donned a pink kit in support of various cancer initiatives. It started when their mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011.

She passed away two years later and Duane said this year, like always they honoured their mother as well as paid tribute to Cancer survivors.

“She is always our motivation no matter what race we are involved in,” Duane explained. “I’m proud of what we’ve achieved this year. I think Jody and I have worked extremely hard to get a silver medal. Our goal was to push for that silver in the Dusi main and to try and finish in the top 10 for the Non-Stop which we achieved. I’ve been working really hard on my running in the past few years and I’ve dropped 18 kilograms which has also worked in our favour out on the river,” he said.

His comments were echoed by Jody, who touched on the significance of a silver medal.

“I have won a silver medal before but this one with my boet was definitely more meaningful and significant. I think our results at the three day race gave us the confidence for the non-stop Dusi and it was a case of building of characters,” Jody said.

He also paid tribute to his dad, girlfriend and team of seconders who helped them on race day.

“You cannot do a race like this without our seconders. Our dad is always behind us and to be honest we wouldn’t have gotten into paddling if it wasn’t for him. He is the third member in our boats and we wouldn’t be able to achieve what we have if it wasn’t for him,” he said.

You can also sign up for news alerts on Telegram. Send us a Telegram message (not an SMS) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5532.  

Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple.