Canoe duo a success at River Race
More success for Florida Lake Canoe Club duo
The partnership of Mercedes Benz manager, Douw Kruger, and an orphan nurtured by Florida Lake Canoe Club, Melusi Nxumalo, has been successful. The pair have done numerous river races throughout South Africa, and synchronise well together.
Douw and Melusi recently competed in the VBK Liebensbergvlei River Race. The river is fed by the Highlands Lesotho Water Project which releases melted snow through a tunnel into the Ash River near Clarens, which flows into the Liebensbergvlei, through Bethlehem, to Frankfort and into the nearby Free State dam.
The annual river race took place on 18 and 19 September from the water works dam at Reitz, to the road bridge in Tweeling, a distance of 32 kilometres.
Gauteng Canoe Union’s Jennie Dallas described the river as having rolling wave trains, twists and corners as well as the Free State wind.
“The second day is a distance of 34 kilometres from Tweeling Road Bridge to Frankfort. It is excellent training and preparation of 66 kilometres as paddlers prepare for the A Grade Hansa Fish River which takes place in October, in Cradock, Eastern Cape,” she said.
Douw and Melusi finished the two-day event in a time of 4h40m. With the international ICF World Marathon Champs having being hosted in Pietermaritzburg the previous week, a number of international paddlers and top South African paddlers made the trek to the small farming towns of Reitz and Tweeling to enjoy the fast-flowing, icy-cold, clean and unpolluted waters of the Liebensbergvlei.
The race was hosted by Dabulamanzi Canoe Club based at Emmarentia Dam.
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