The Gauteng Canoe Union recently provided the opportunity for local paddlers to participate in trials to select a team which will represent the province at the upcoming South African Sprint Championships.

Sprints is an important discipline in the canoeing or paddling sport, as it is the Olympic discipline and several South Africa’s young paddlers have been selected over the years to participate in programmes such as the “Olympic Hopes”, international regattas, to prepare them for possible future participation at the Olympics.

The sprint discipline consists of short fast races, in lanes. This includes  200m, 500m and 1000m races and there is a long-distance sprint competition as well – 2km for u.12’s and 5km for other paddling age groups.

A large contingent of paddlers from throughout Gauteng participated in the Gauteng Canoe Union sprint championships, which included several participants from Pretoria and Centurion.

Participants are divided into age groups – from u.8 through to over 80 years and besides the mentioned shorter races there are also longer distances, such as the 2000m for the u.12 age group and 5000m for older paddlers.

Teams in each age group selected from the Gauteng Championships will represent the province at the South African Sprint Championships on 22, 23 and 24 March 2024. The event is scheduled to take place at the Victoria Lake Canoe Club based at Germiston Lake.

Local rowers who performed particularly well at the Gauteng championship include:

• Willem Landman. He finished first in his races in the Grand Master category (60+). This included the 500m K1 (single kayak) in 2 minutes, 25 seconds, and the 200m in 1 minute, 6 seconds. He and his partner, Gunther Grune, were the 1st Sub Grand Master finishers (60+) in the K2 doubles 500m race.
• Louise Breugman Olivier from Centurion Canoe Club won first place in all her sprint races at the Gauteng Sprint Champs in the Masters age category (50+). She won the 1000m in 6 minutes, 7seconds; the 500m 2 minutes, 54 seconds, and  the 200m in 1 minute, 09 seconds.
• Christian Hofmeyer was second finisher in both the 1km (1000m) and the 500m sprints. His respective times were 5 minutes, 21seconds, and 2 minutes, 27 seconds.
• Lizeth Van der Westhuizen was first in the 1000m in the senior ladies category with a time of 6 minutes, 7 seconds. She also finished third in the 500m in 3 minutes, 19 seconds, while she also finished third in the 200m in a time of 1 minute, 16 seconds.
• Sean van der Westhuizen finished second in the u.23 category in both the 200m and 500m races. His times were 47 seconds and 2 minutes, 14 seconds respectively.

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