Several local paddlers and members of the Academy of Canoe Development (ACD) at Roodeplaat dam performed brilliantly during the recent South African Canoe Sprint Championships, which was hosted at their own club facility in the northeast of Pretoria.

The rivalry at the championship was particularly intense, as teams will be selected soon to represent South Africa at the upcoming Junior, u.23 and Senior World Canoe Sprint Championships.

The World Championship events will take place from 23 to 27 July this year in Montemor-o-Velho in Portugal.

Sprints is the only Olympic discipline in the canoe and kayak category and paddlers from throughout South Africa entered the national championship at Roodeplaat Dam.

Races at the championship were held over distances of 200m, 500m, 1000m, and a long distance of 5000m. The 500m and 1000m events for men and women respectively are the Olympic races.

South African Olympic paddler, Esti Olivier, is also a coach and manager at the ACD and specialises in sprinting. Olivier was particularly proud of her students from the academy, who achieved several excellent performances at the championships.

According to Olivier, the club benefited greatly from hosting the championship, while her students proved that they can compete against the best in the country.

In the junior categories, Deon Hopley (boys u.12) raked in four medals. He finished second overall. Henk Smith was fifth in the same age group.

Among the young girls Juanne Ericksen (girls u.14) was third overall at the end of the three days of racing. Lisa Moolman finished 13th in the same age category after winning two silver medals in the doubles racing with Ericksen.

Martin Moolman competed in the boys u.16 age category, which was extremely competitive with a very large group of entries. He eventually finished in 23rd place.

Emily Langley ended in tenth place in the girls u.18 category.

In the u.23 age category for women, ACD’s Chrishan van Wyk finished 14^th, while her male teammate, Gareth Barberton, ended in ninth place in the same age category.

Olivier participated in the senior women’s category, walking away with victories in both 500m and 200m singles events.  She should therefore have a very good chance of making the national team for the championship in Portugal.

Another club member, Henry van der Walt, won the 200m singles and doubles events for men and thereby he was also stamping his name down for consideration to be selected as part of the national team to the World Championships.

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