The Florida Lake Canoe Club (FLCC) has announced the team that will make them proud at this year’s Dusi Canoe Marathon from Pietermaritzburg to Durban next week.
Among the favourites from the West Rand and Gauteng for a top finish are Shaun Maphanga, the club’s strongest paddler who is also groundsman, clubhouse manager as well as a community youth development coach. Shaun will partner with a boat repairer from Soweto, Nkosi Mzolo, who also grew up in the Dusi valley.
Determined to outpace the club favourite is Serge van Hee and Jeromy Dacey. The two have been training hard and in peak conditions at Florida Lake over three days.
The only woman paddler from the club who will take on the challenge is Monique Steven who is partnering with Dekker Erasmus. The pair had some good results in training races recently.
Other participants include vice chairman Patrick Thomas with Craig Smith, Gregg McWilliams with Conrad Durand, and Bradley Fleming who will do the marathon in a single canoe.
There will be tight competition among the crews with Kevin Hunt (Toyota) partnering with Chris van der Merwe (Jeep) who will be doing their second Dusi, as well as Vaughn Steven who had to find a new partner weeks before the event.
The youth community team also will be at the race thanks to the sponsorship from Jeep (Sandown Motors) and club members, and they are among the top competing paddlers at the lake.
Melusi Nxumalo and Siyabonga Twetwa will be driving the double canoes for their novice first-timer partners Jason Lemmer and Adrian Diamond who have supported the development programme during the past year. Archie Moncho from Victory House will be partnering with novice first-time Dusi paddler Macdonald Nkosi who attended Roodepark School in Discovery.
Also looking forward to their first ever Dusi are Peter and his older brother Richard.
According to FLCC spokesperson Jennie Dallas, “Peter convinced Richard to return to the sport after a 14-year hiatus to take on the K2 Dusi (Doubles) and it seems that big brother is enjoying the challenge and the training.”
The Dusi event commences on Thursday 13 February and is considered the world’s toughest endurance race. It takes place over three days from Pietermaritzburg to Durban, covering 120km in total.
