Local canoeists will kick off the New Year with serious training for the six weeks left before the world’s toughest endurance canoeing event, the Dusi, which takes place in mid-February.
The 2013 canoeing year ended with a Dusi training race (and the final race of the Belloord series of races) on December 8, hosted by Florida Lake Canoe Club, on the Klip River, from Daleside to Meyerton.
Brighton Clark and Katiso Hlahatsi, from Germiston’s Victoria Lake Canoe Club, enjoyed a successful training race, finishing as the 13th double, in two hours and 35 minutes, and as the fifth u-23 contenders.
They can confidently look forward to a successful Dusi.
The series of races, sponsored by Belloord, a West Rand-based labour consultancy, has ensured regular races on the river, with good attendance.
Paddlers were attracted by giveaways on entry, spot prizes and cash prizes for winners of age categories, overall winners and lucky draws for all participants.
The series included a couple of compulsory races, which enabled qualifiers to be in the final draw, where six boats were won, together with canoeing equipment, life jackets, paddles, water drinking systems and spray decks, making it the most viable value for money training opportunity for canoeists throughout the year.
Mid-January will see a seriously tough two-day Dusi seeding race on the Jukskei River, from the Heron Bridge School (Lanseria Airport area), towards Hartebeespoort Dam, where the Euro Steel sponsorship has attracted some of the top paddlers from South Africa’s Dusi event, including previous winners.
