Popular Nine Miler race at the Rietvlei Dam attracts top paddlers
Paddlers from all over Gauteng recently participated in the popular Nine Miler marathon canoeing race at the Rietvlei Dam in the south-east of Pretoria.
Centurion Canoe Club recently hosted the Nine Miler marathon canoeing race at the Rietvlei Dam.
The event included both a long 18km race for the more serious paddlers and a shorter race of 9km, which consists of three laps and accommodates less fit, younger or beginner paddlers.
Canoeing has a few different disciplines including marathons, which is long distance, while sprints take place over shorter distances. The latter is faster and represents an Olympic discipline.
The sport also accommodates river paddlers throughout South Africa, many of whom have recently completed the Berg River race.
Finally, there is of course the Surfski discipline, which represents ocean paddle fun.
The overall winners of the main long K2 race at the Centurion Canoe Club Nine Miler were Bradley Boulle from Dabulamanzi Canoe Club, based at Emmarentia Dam, and Nicholas Notten. He is originally from Peninsula Canoe Club in Western Cape, but has relocated to Gauteng and also trains at Dabulamanzi.
Boulle and Notten, who competed in the senior age group, finished in a time of 1:21, 57.
Photo: Supplied
They were followed by Sibusiso Chwayi and Benjamin Mntonintshi from Soweto. Two u.18 paddlers, Tyiki Nhlamulo and Nhlamulo Mahwayi, finished third.
The Soweto Canoe and Recreation Club (SCARC) is Dabulamanzi’s sister club. The benefits of joint training at Emmarentia are seen in the high standard of racing and top placings in national events from members of both clubs. SCARC was the top-placed team at the iconic Dusi Canoe Marathon earlier this year.
An u.21 team mixed double combo consisting of Luke Salmon from Dabulamanzi and Amy Hulett from Tuks crossed the finish line next at the Nine Miler marathon in Centurion.
Sarah Field (Dabulamanzi) and Emma Hatfield (Tuks) were the first K2 females to cross the finish line in one hour and 38 minutes.
Centurion Canoe Club’s top competitors were Pieter Engelbrecht, who finished second in the age group 55 plus. He was followed by Dirk Labuschagne and Ronald Pronk.
Elton du Preez, Gustav Radloff, Krzystof Lapacz and Anya de Beer also all finished in under 90 minutes.
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