HAVING forged a formidable combination with Abby Solms in recent months, Jenna Ward will now sit and wait as she anticipates the arrival of U23 ICF Canoe Marathon World Champion Vanda Kiszli, who will make up the second half of their K2 at the 2016 FNB Dusi Canoe Marathon from 18 to 20 February.
The Ward (former Toti) and Solms combination has been in fine form with wins at all of the major FNB Dusi seeding races so far including the Umpetha Challenge, Ozzie Gladwin Canoe Marathon and most recently the StaminGro 50 Miler.
“Our results have come as quite a shock to me to be honest!” Ward said candidly. “I thought we would do well in the women’s field but I didn’t expect to do as well in the men’s race,” she added after her and Solms finished the 50 Miler in 14th place in the overall field. With the close arrival of Ward’s partner from Hungary, it is going to be an interesting month-and-a-half for the pair as they build up for the iconic three-day journey with Ward having to get Kiszli up to speed on river marathon racing.
“Vanda arrives on 4 January so it does give us quite a bit of time in the boat and hopefully enough time to get her up to speed with river racing – I don’t think she has ever done a river race before. I know she is an incredibly strong paddler so I don’t think we will have any problems on the water but we will have to do quite a bit of running in our preparations.”
The pair had their first Skype chat recently and although there was some broken English coming from Kiszli’s end she has around seven weeks to learn when she arrives in South Africa early in the new year. With the women’s race expected to be a closely fought race, Ward has earmarked a few crews she says her and Kiszli are going to have to watch out for over the three days. “Abby and Anna are definite favourites going into the race and that is something I don’t think anyone can argue with but it is the Dusi and anything can happen, so we will definitely try and put as much pressure on them.
“Cana (Peek) and Kyeta (Purchase) are another really strong crew even though they will also be racing in the junior category I think they will be another tough crew to beat,” said a wary Ward.
Despite the excitement of a tight women’s race, Ward feels there is more at stake for them than just racing the other women. “The Dusi is always two races in one. Racing in the women’s race but also trying to race against the men and do as well as you can against them. It always adds a different dimension and with a lot of men around us it will keep us focused,” explained Ward.
“I am actually glad that I am going to be at the front of the boat again, I really enjoy driving. I have learnt a lot from Abby in the last few weeks however, thinking back on it, I think I would have done a lot of the same things that Abby did in terms of lines down rapids and that so I am confident that I can do the same come Dusi time. I have never been this prepared for a Dusi before and with a low one expected we are going to have to do a lot of running training so it’s going to be a serious push from when Vanda gets here,” she added.
The FNB Dusi Canoe Marathon takes place from Camps Drift, Pietermaritzburg to Blue Lagoon, Durban from 18 to 20 February. More information can be found at www.dusi.co.za
