UMHLANGA resident Bryce Lawson will hope to draw on both his and his K2 partner’s knowledge of the uMsunduzi and uMngeni rivers come the start of the Dusi Canoe Marathon this morning,  Thursday, February 19.

The 25-year-old is aiming to complete his 10th Dusi which would secure him his permanent Green Number, while his partner for the race, Jody Taylor, will aim to complete his 22nd.

While most K2 pairings have had some time paddling and training together on some of the pre-Dusi races, Lawson and Taylor’s first time paddling together for an extended period of time will come on day one of the race.

Taylor, who lives in Cape Town, flew down two days before the iconic race started.

Also read: Father and daughter ready to tackle Dusi together

“We’ve not had a chance to paddle together, granted. I think the longest we’ve completed together is about a 7km paddle. Having said that we are definitely not going to take it easy. I’m not saying we are out there to win but we are definitely out there to give it our best,” he said.

Lawson, who is the head of sports at Crawford International North Coast, has a long history with the race, having studied at Martizburg College and seconded his father Clint, who’s completed 21 races.

“It all started at a young age for me seconding my dad. We would go watch the start and then finish of day three. I also tried to convince my mom to let me off school for the first two days of the race but with very little success. I just think the Dusi Canoe Marathon is a proper adventure. You don’t know what’s going to come out, you can plan for something and it goes the other way so the challenges the race throws at you are quite special,” he said.

For K2 partner Taylor, the time spent apart in a double canoe is not much of a factor.

Also read: uMdloti duo aim for Dusi podium

“To be honest I’m just hoping to keep up with my younger and stronger partner Bryce who is doing his 10th, so my main goal is to get him home and get his green number, no pressure,” he laughed. “But we are hoping for a silver medal in the end. I feel we are well prepared, we’ve both put in a lot of work and even though we haven’t trained together, knowing each other well is an added bonus. We have raced each other a lot over the past few years so I think we know how one another races and that will help to now team up,” he said.

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