Victoria Lake Canoe Club’s paddlers participated in the Watuni Berg training race, on the Vaal River, on June 21.
The Watuni was a 26km hard working training race to help prepare paddlers for the Berg River Race (a tough endurance event).
Paddling upstream on the Vaal River, against the current, and paddling up the Taaibosch River, which runs into the Vaal, the canoeists improved their overall endurance against resistance and tough slog.VLC’s Grant Conlon competes in the Berg race every year and needs lots of training races in the cold, to prepare for it.
“I have to make sure I am still alive, heart beating and hands freezing,” said Conlon when asked why he participates in the race every year.
“The race is my annual challenge, you never know what to expect.”
Conlon finished his 26km slog in a time of two hours and 30 minutes, as the 10th single boat.
Conlon will be doing his 16th Berg River Canoe Marathon this July.
Richard Cele, also from VLC, finished in two hours and 54 minutes, as the 18th K1.
The Watuni Canoe Club, based on the North West University campus, in Vanderbijlpark, is beautifully situated on the Vaal River.
The nature reserve grounds are beautifully kept and serene, while the hosting club provided superb hot meals and drinks, as well as prizes and giveaway beanies, for the Berg training paddlers after the race.
The Berg River Race runs from July 16 to 19 in Paarl, Western Cape, during mid-winter.
The race is cold, rainy, windy and 220km 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, and only the tough paddlers take on this race, the longest canoe race in South Africa.
