Florida Lake Canoe Club member, Dion Kok, who is currently located in Switzerland, teamed up with a Cape Town paddling friend to enjoy a trip to Spain and a very enjoyable 20km race.
The first attempted descent of the stretch of river between the villages of Arriondas and Ribadesella was made in 1929, and the event has since become increasingly popular in Spain supported by paddlers from all over Europe and the world. Even South Africans from KZN paddlers achieved well.
During his many years of canoeing in South Africa, Kok successfully competed in several major river races including the annual infamous 120km Dusi, the 80km Fish River, the Breede, and the Umkomaas, and he has competed several times at the Sella in Spain, while in Europe.
The race started in Arriondas, an island village where thousands of paddlers converge to participate in the event – it ends 20km downriver in Ribadesella, a coastal village where the mouth of the Sella enters the sea. Participants gauge the covered distance with the help of the bridges and walkways across and along the river.
Dr Colin Andrews partnered with Kok, a member of The Freedom Paddlers in Cape Town, however, his doctoring skills were unable to assist at the Sella where at the start they discovered that their rudder (used to turn the boat) was damaged and in the amount of time they had available, they were unable to repair it and had to do the race with no steering. This added to their time – two hours and four minutes, as veteran men (age group 50 to 60) in a K2 (two-men kayak or a ‘double’) instead of the expected 45 minutes.
According to Jennie Dallas, Gauteng Canoe Union media liaison, they had to veer left and eventually veer to the right and tried to brake regularly to avoid being crashed into by other paddling canoeists enjoying the race.
