Florida Lake Canoe Club tackles Fish
Amid the usual gusty winds and mountain chill, the event was a success.
Twenty-five members from the Florida Lake Canoe Club took part in the Hansa Fish River Marathon on 10 and 11 October in Cradock in the Eastern Cape.
Despite the usual gusty winds and mountain chill, the event was a success.
The top West Rand finisher was the wilful Shaun Maphanga, groundsman and coach at the Florida Lake Canoe Club. This despite losing his rudder halfway through the first day, which forced him to ferry through thick bush and Karoo thorn trees for 20km of the 47km, turning his Fish experience into a Dusi trainer.
Maphanga, the club’s strongest paddler, still managed to finish in 148th position in three hours 44 minutes on the long tough day one, and two hours and 26 minutes on day two.
The first double finishers were next, bringing in Kevin Hunt from Randpark Ridge and Chris van der Merwe from Jeep Constantia Kloof.
The pair from Florida Lake Canoe Club finished 35th in the K2 category in a time of six hours 29 minutes over the two days with no incidents and friendship intact.
On the disaster side, the Hansa K3 category crew (all from the Florida Lake Canoe Club) captained by Melusi Nxumalo, a young man with extensive ability, with the local Gauteng Hansa brand manager Delamaine du Toit and Samantha Boustred, took on the Keiths Flyover rapid (a well-known boat breaker) at 10km into the race, and sat out the rest of the race as watchers with a score of K3 – 0, River – 1.
