FLORIDA Canoe Club hosted its first river race of the new canoeing season on Sunday May 18 from Meyerton Sportsground to Three Rivers, a distance of some 18km designed to exclude the more technically difficult rapids, to ensure that new river paddlers would manage with their newly acquired river paddling skills. A number of new learner paddlers were able to test their newly acquired river skills on their first race of the new season.
The river race season begins after the rains have subsided and the rivers are more manageable with gentler currents and builds up until the next rainy season when it peaks at high flood water and exciting river races!
Fallen trees can be a serious problem for river canoeists as they can get snagged in the branches and trapped. Tree clearing crews work regularly on the rivers to keep them flowing freely and not blocked by numerous non-indigenous fallen trees, and safety marshals are positions to direct paddlers away from the tree branches.
Ryan Simonata and Alex Masina from the Johannesburg Canoe Club in the South, based at Wemmer Pan, jockeyed for position throughout the 18km race, finishing in second and third place respectively in a time of 1:24 minutes and a couple of seconds between them.
