Dabulamanzi Canoe Club can boast the best mixed doubles canoe river racers in the province
The club based at Emmarentia Dam sent canoeists down to the Liebenbergsvlei River in the Free State to compete in the Gauteng Canoe Union Mixed Doubles Championship River Race on 24 November.
Siblings Morgan and Ryan Ziervogel (23 and 20 respectively) were favourites after winning the event for the first time last year.
Paddling 32km under a warm sun but in a cool breeze and the odd cloud cover, the pair felt confident to defend their title.
The canoeists each have several individual wins to their name in the canoeing world and were able to record their second Gauteng mixed doubles title in a time of 2:08:00
“It felt great defending our title after all the hard work we put in and by the margin we won by,” said Morgan. “It’s also great to be paddling together as siblings.”
She added that their father, Warren, started paddling in 2014 and they followed in his footsteps.
Morgan has represented South Africa in sprints and aims to do well in trials in March to qualify for the team to go to the World Cup in Poland and Germany, while Ryan is more of a river racer.
He is gearing up for the N3TC Drak Challenge in January and the Dusi Canoe Marathon in February.
“The race has been great distance training and every little bit helps to improve our endurance,” said Morgan.
She added that the pair aimed to become world champions in canoe river racing, and will start by consistently being Gauteng’s best.
“We definitely plan on defending our title. We will keep training hard and be the best partnership they’ve ever seen.”
Details: Dabulamanzi Canoe Club info@dabulamanzi.co.za; 011 486 0979.
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