Houghton paddler goes for silver amidst odds
Dallas said Wald's wife works as a front-line doctor at a local hospital and just as the ultra race started, she tested positive with Covid-19.
A Houghton resident completed a Silver Medal Challenge for the Virtual Berg River race amidst unfavourable odds.
Anthony Wald, a Gauteng Canoe Union paddler, took part in the race which annually begins in the Western Cape on 8 July and runs along the Berg River in mid-winter in Cape rain, wind, snow, and takes 240km to reach the coast.
According to Gauteng Canoe Union public relations and media liaison Jennie Dallas, this year it was a virtual river and paddlers needed to do the 240km either in four consecutive days for gold; or for silver by training during July to complete the 240km.
Dallas said Wald’s wife works as a front-line doctor at a local hospital and just as the ultra race started, she tested positive with Covid-19. Wald shared, “So, the whole house had to go into isolation. That left me with plenty time to paddle on my home ergo (which is like a rowing machine but different with a paddling movement not a rowing movement). In between looking after the wife; who was having a pretty severe response to the Covid-19 and ended up in hospital twice, the only respite I found was on the ergo.”
He said that, on average, he did two sessions a day of about 10km per session. “The longest session I did was 32km and it was on the last day. I always had the thought that I may be infected while I was training so I kept a careful eye on the heart rate monitor. Rarely letting it go above 130-140.”
He concluded that his average speed was around 10km per hour and while it was a pretty lonely paddle on the ergo, digital streaming sites kept him company.
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