FLCC Paddlers at Vaal Marathon

For months, South African paddlers were uncertain whether the Vaal Marathon would take place. Another concern was whether it would successfully be the hosting race for the SA K2 River Championships event. The concerns of paddlers stemmed from the drought and excessively low level of the Vaal Dam.

The water level in the barrage section of the Vaal River, below the dam wall, has however been relatively high during past weeks with all the rain, which although it did not fall in the Vaal Dam catchment area, flowed into the Vaal River from the Klip River, filling the barrage containment, north of Parys.

The canoe race started just below the barrage in good, swiftly flowing water at the Côte de Val resort. It finished on Day 1 (12 November) after 37 kms, at the Smilin’ Thru resort.

However, things changed dramatically overnight, due to the deluge of water that arrived from Johannesburg and its surrounding areas into the barrage catchment. This forced water management to open sluices and release 300 cubic metres of water per second, and the paddlers,who stayed in Parys overnight, watched with concern as the river water levels rose more than 2 metres.

“This made the river at Parys a potentially very dangerous stretch of wild water, with massive trees and debris washing downstream in the fast flowing water,” said Gauteng Canoe Union’s Jennie Dallas.

The race organisers had no choice but to reroute the race to above Parys, and avoid the white water section where massive boulders were covered by layers of water. This led to a shortened Day 2, from a 30km to a 10km stretch from Smilin’ Thru to the Likkewaan Kano Klub, just outside Parys. The top finishers clocked 43 minutes in a magnificently fast sprint time-trial format. Paddlers were forced to paddle upstream against the strong current for a couple of kilometres to spread the field and the strong triumphed while other paddlers were quite exhausted.

Shaun Maphanga, and his partner Neil Butcher, were the top finishing paddlers from Florida Lake Canoe Club (FLCC), finishing the 47km race in 3h 33m over the two days, earning third position on the podium in the Sub-veteran age category.

FLCC’s Douw Kruger and Melusi Nxumalo put up a good fight, finishing just 5 minutes behind Shaun and Neil. Donald Moncho and Bruce Falcon finished in 3h 37 m. Guy Crichton and Macdonald Nkosi finished the race in 3h 44m, while Jerome Boulle and his new bride Elsali Boulle tested their relationship, finishing the tough race in 4h 4 m. Stuart Dixon and Michael Miskin clocked in a time of 4h 29m over the two days, admitting to a lack of training in recent months.

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