Local Canoeists take Rietvlei by storm
Local canoeists takes to Rietvlei Dam with paddle in hand in preperation for the A Grade Fish River event later this year.
The 9 Miler race on Rietvlei dam at the end of July annually heralds the start of serious training for major races on the canoe race calendar.
Many paddlers who have been resting or hibernating since Dusi in February or through the early part of winter inevitably find their way back on to the water to obtain a decent seeding for the major A Grade Fish River event.
The A Grade Fish River event will take place in nine weeks time giving canoeists just enough time to train for the exciting and challenging 80 kilometer white water event.
Despite the presence of both crocodile and hippo at the Rietvlei dam, the race, hosted by Centurion Canoe Club, never fails to attract a large crowd as the paddlers enjoy the five laps around the massive dam.
With more than 130 paddlers on the water, no boat is alone for too long. Overtaking, or being overtaken depends on the fitness levels of the canoeists.
Florida Lake Canoe Club members are very active river paddlers and generally tend to avoid flat water whenever possible.
However these tough slog races do provide better opportunity for good start batches in the seeding logs and without the flow of the river to help the paddler along, it is a much tougher workout and very necessary for improvement and development of fitness and improved times.
The top West Rand paddlers to finish were in fact father and son team of Hardus and Emile Theunissen, resident in Florida who finished the race in 1 hour 24 minutes as the 10th boat to finish.
Jandre and Andre Bezuidenhout, also a son and father team, while being the main Belloord sponsors for the club’s winter time trials as well as the Belloord series of Klip River races, are now racing in the colours of the Tukkies Canoe Club in Pretoria where Jandre is attending university. They finished their race in 1 hour 29 minutes.
