Paddling at high altitude
Benonians from the East Rand Kayak Club (ERK) took part in the Gauteng High Altitude Surf Ski Championships, on Emmarentia Dam, on Saturday, March 29.
The 12km race around the 1km perimeter dam was made exciting by motorboats circling to create waves simulating a surfski sea race.
With massive prize monies and sponsorships, the race attracted World and South African Marathon Champion Hank McGregor, who won the event, as well as Oscar Chalupsky, winner of every major surfski race in the world except the high altitude race in Johannesburg.
Olympic bronze medal winner Bridgette Hartley partnered with multiple Dusi winner Andy Birkett, to chase for second place in the doubles category.
Emmarentia Dam’s local canoe club, Dabulamanzi, has applied for Guinness Book of Records recognition, for being the largest inland surfski race at the highest altitude.
With 100 surfskis on the dam, creating their own form of turbulence, ERK’s Michael Stewart finished in one hour, three minutes, as the seventh single ski, and the second veteran.
Other paddlers from the Benoni area who finished the race were Franz Lottering and Tommy Booth, while 15-year-old Liam Stewart also participated.
Octogenarian Tony Lightfoot, kitted out in his lifesaver outfit from the 1940s, including a bathing cap, was the official lifeguard on duty on the motorboat, directing the wave directions, while Chad Andrews, Canoe Concepts canoeist supplier, based in Albertskroon, rode the wave in a single ski.
