Dabs canoeist paddles to victory
Paddlers who performed well at this championship were selected for the Gauteng Marathon Team.
Dabulamanzi Canoe Club (Dabs) paddlers took the winners’ podium at the recently held, Provincial Marathon Championships.
The championships were held at The Ekurhuleni Kayak Club based at Homestead Dam. The competition spanned two days and saw local paddlers, place in the top two positions in the K2 (doubles) race. Wayne Jacobs and Bradley Boulle were first with a time of 01:36:00, followed by Robert Crichton and Michael-John Robb in second place with a time of 01:58:15.
As a result of this awesome performance, they secured their selection to the Gauteng Marathon Team and will represent the province at the upcoming, South African National Canoe Marathon Championships which will take place in St Francis Bay from June 15 to 17.
Media Liaison for Gauteng Canoe Union, Jennie Dallas, said throughout April and May, union clubs hosted a series of marathon training races to encourage paddlers to work on their fitness and motivate them to participate in this championship. There were different distances with each of the two days either dedicated to K1 or K2 races. For the U12 (guppies) short distances of 2.5 km, there was also a 10km race for all ages as well as those not fit enough to enjoy the 21 km main race – both of which included a portage.
While sprint races are short, fast races of 200m, 500m, 1000m and 5000m, marathons are long distances of 10 or 21km and include a portage where paddlers are required to demonstrate their ability to take their boat out of the water and run/walk a short distance carrying it, in order to successfully and smoothly get back into the water without slipping in or dropping the boat.
Soweto Canoe Club top finishers Benjamin Mntoninthsi and Wongama Makasi who also train and race at Dabs finished in fourth place in a time of 01:41:00 after Pieter Engelbrecht (Centurion Canoe Club) who partnered with Dabs’ Matthew Ballenden to finish third in 01:39:00.
The Dabs Darlings also participated in races and achieved well, with Karen Field and Elandre Zietsman winning the K2 ladies’ race in a time of 02:06 :00. In the 10km short race, Renshi Van Zyl and Pippa Martin finished fourth in a time of 01:05:00.
“It was a fun, enjoyable weekend for all participants and worth the effort to set up the series of training preparation races – where points were also awarded for participation and position and trophies were allocated to the winning achievers based on participation points,” said Dallas.
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