Springs paddler takes on Vaal River Canoe Marathon
A number of East Rand-based paddlers, including Tommy Booth from Springs, finished the technical and tough long 70km race over the 18 and 19 November.
The Vaal River Canoe Marathon is a historic canoe race and one of South Africa’s oldest. It attracts top paddlers from across the nation for two days of challenging river paddling on the iconic Vaal River.
The event is an official Dusi Canoe Marathon seeding race and remains a cherished part of South Africa’s canoeing calendar.
This year was one of the most closely contested races as three boats were locked in battle starting below the dam wall and finishing at Umfula Lodge in Parys.
A number of East Rand-based paddlers, including Tommy Booth from Springs, finished the technical and tough long 70km race over the 18 and 19 November.
Booth, a highly experienced river canoeist, finished the two-day 70km event in a time of 6 hours 7 minutes, as the 4th K1 (Kayak single person 1) – as the first veteran age category paddler (40-45).
The river below the dam wall has tricky windy rapids between boulders and rocks, with shallow rocky shelves, and some deeper gullies.
Further below the dam wall towards Three Rivers, the water flow becomes resistant and hard work as the flow flattens out due to weirs across the river which paddlers can shoot down a ramp, or portage by carrying boats and walking around them to put back into the water below the weir wall.
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