Bedfordview paddlers finish Dusi in 14 hours
Eight paddlers were meant to race in pairs, but Player's partner Miles Brokensha quit at Mfula Store on Christmas Eve.
Several paddlers from the Victoria Lake Canoe Club enjoyed the challenge of a full and fast-flowing Dusi river.
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Among the members who participated were Bedfordview residents RJ Greyling and Ryan Booysen.
The pair who raced in a K2 finished in a time of 14:14.
Gauteng Canoe Union spokesperson Jennie Dallas said they were the 107th K2 to cross the line as 24th in the veteran age group of paddlers.
She said there were over 300 entrants at the start of the race, but not all finished successfully.
The three-day paddling and portaging race from Camps Drift in Pietermaritzburg finishes at the Blue Lagoon in Durban.
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The Dusi Canoe Marathon took place on February 16 to 18.
Dallas explained portaging is when paddlers get out of the river and run while carrying their boats, up hills, across fields for a few kilometres.
She said the race, recognised as the world’s toughest canoe endurance marathon, has been taking place annually since 1951.
Dallas said this race was born during World War II by Ian Player.
While in Italy, Player came up with the idea of formalising a race downriver from Pietermaritzburg to Durban – racing down the Msunduzi and uMngeni Rivers.
After an initial expedition, but abandoned halfway through 1950, eight paddlers set off from Alexandra Park in 1951.
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Six days, eight hours and 15 minutes later, Player was the only paddler to finish, having survived two days of low rivers, a flash flood and a night adder bite.
Eight paddlers were meant to race in pairs, but Player’s partner Miles Brokensha quit at Mfula Store on Christmas Eve.
When Player arrived in Durban, he was outside of the initial set of laws, but undisputedly the first person to ‘do the Dusi’.
He won the next two races with Fred Schmidt before retiring unbeaten in the Dusi.
By the 1956 race, the entry had reached 48 starters and changes started happening.
From a non-stop format, the race implemented compulsory overnights stops at Dusi bridge and Khumalo’s causeway.
For the first time, the field of six doubles and 18 singles was set off in batches on what was a desperately low river.
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Dallas said this year, the river had plenty of water with recent heavy rains. Fortunately the problems with the quality of the water, which like many beaches in Durban during December, were resolved in time.
“This enabled paddlers to enjoy the fast flows,“ she said.
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