Medals galore for Dabs
EMMARENTIA – Local canoeists rake in the medalware at national marathon championships.
Canoeists from Dabulamanzi Canoe Club made waves at the 2019 South African Canoe Marathon Championships.
The championships, which were held at Cradle Moon Lake, Muldersdrift, from 15 to 17 June, saw Dabs members stand triumphant on podiums for all sorts of categories.
Canoeists between the U8 age category and those in their 70s raced between 15km and 30km each day over the long weekend.
“The results are absolutely as good as I had hoped for,” said Dabs chairperson, Graham Neate.
“The guys had taken the championships very seriously and got coaches to help them train, so they deserve it.”
Neate said the mornings were cold on the river but otherwise conditions were excellent for canoeing.
“We were also the host club and I would say organising everything went well. We had about 80 volunteers helping run the event, and 500 people came to watch each day.”
Neate said there were no problems in the running of the event save for one morning when a start was delayed due to a hippo being found on the route.
The club will next host the Liebenbergsvlei Canoe Marathon, a two-day river race in the Free State at the end of August, with 30km canoeing each day.
Dabs members on podium in K2 (doubles)
Cally Henderson from Dabs with partner Thea van Bart won the sub-grandmaster women category
Jordan Klopper and Luke Salmon finished third in U14 boys
Grant Ahlschlager and Michael Arthur, with Alex Roberts and Loveday Zondi, finished first and second respectively in the sub-veteran age group
Anthony Rowan with partner Gustav Radloff won the veteran age group
Sean Evans and Benjamin Cockram won the sub-master men’s category
Colin Wilson and Nicolas Oldert came third in sub-grandmaster men
Graham Holm and Tony Purchase won in grandmaster men
Garth Watters and Brian Longley, with Peter O Connor and Gary Ralph, came first and second in sub-great-grandmaster men respectively
Sarah Evans and Holly Spencer came fourth in senior women
Dabs members on podium in K1 (singles)
Alexis Rich finished third in U18 girls
Wayne Jacobs and Alex Roberts finished first and second in sub-veteran men
Anthony Rowan won sub-master men, while Benjamin Cockram came third
Colin Wilson finished second in sub-grandmaster men, while Peter O Connor came third
Nicolas Oldert won grandmaster men
Brian Longley and Claude Graham finished first and second respectively in great-grandmaster men
Jodie Dreyer was the third veteran woman
Sarah Evans was the second sub-master woman
Chris Visser and Cally Henderson won the sub-grandmaster mixed doubles category.
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