Dabs paddlers take top places at championships
These were the Marathon Championships and had paddlers race 20km for the ultimate prize.
The Gauteng Canoe Union hosted the annual canoe Marathon Championships on June 1 and 2 at Roodeplaat Dam.
These championships, that included paddlers from Dabulamanzi Canoe Club (Dabs), were held to enable selection to the Gauteng Provincial team. These paddlers will represent the province at the upcoming South African Championships National event which takes place on the weekend June
14–16 also at Roodeplaat Dam in Pretoria.
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From there, the international team selection will represent the country at the International Canoe Marathon events which will take place in Metkovic, Croatia on September 19–22. On the day of the championships, Dabs paddlers such as Luke Salmon who finished third and second U23 in a time of 01:45:27 and Wayne Jacobs, fourth, as 1st veteran age category, came in fourth overall in 01:45:28. Alex Roberts was sixth as 2nd veteran age category finisher in 01:50:13; Michael John Robb fourth as first sub veteran age category in 01:50:14; Jack de Swardt fifth U23 in a time of 01:51:04 and Robert Crighton subVet, second, in 01:52:06 who was followed by numerous other local paddlers from the club.
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Numerous older age category paddlers also achieved well in their age group including Graham Monteith as first great grand master (GGM), and Colin Wilson as first grand master.
The first female finisher from the club was Alexia Smedmor, in a time of 02:22:00 as first U16, with Karen Field finishing a few minutes later as fifth female, while Renschi van Zyl was the third female finisher from the club in 02:33:00 as sixth female finisher.
Ruoxi Hao was the top U12 finisher in their juniors race, finishing in 19 minutes which included a portage run with boat. The Guppies (U12) participate in shorter races with a short portage section. Their race is a 10km dash with portages, while the main race for selection to the international team is 20km with a few portages.
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