Berg – the longest one of all

GREGORY Smith from the South will be one of the Gauteng paddlers to take on the longest canoe race in South Africa, the Berg river marathon.

The Berg marathon starts on July 16 in Paarl in the Western Cape during midwinter, when the area is generally very cold, rainy, windy and in fact mop up operations have just started from the recent cold front and heavy rainfall, which may mean a full Berg river for this week’s race!

The race is 240km long and takes four days to complete as they finish at Velddrif on the Western Cape coast, after paddling through the scenic mountain views and Cape wineland areas. Only the very tough and hardiest paddlers take on this challenge, but then they do it every year!

Gregory Smith finished the 30km on the Klip River from Daleside to Meyerton on Sunday July 6. An icy start prepared him well for the expected conditions at Berg. He finished the Florida Lake Canoe Club’s training race through chill waters as the fourth K1 single in a time of 2:5 as the first Sub Veteran age category – and he is still looking forward to the Berg challenge!