River champs take charge
Morgan Ziervogel and Alex Masina, both paddlers from Johannesburg Canoe Club based at Wemmer Pan, won their races.
THE Gauteng K1 single river championship race took place on Sunday, September 18, from Buksies Holiday Resort in Walkerville, and finished 34km downstream at the Ixoxo Manzi venue in Daleside.
The race, hosted by the Johannesburg Canoe Club from Wemmer Pan, was also used as selections for the team to represent Gauteng at the upcoming SA K1 River Marathons which will take place in Cradock next month.
Apart from the weather which was cold, windy and rainy, there were numerous challenges on this highly technical tricky stretch of river, especially in the low winter level water but there were only a few withdrawals due to boat damage and the experienced paddlers vying to be selected for the Gauteng team at the Hansa Fish River Marathon in October enjoyed the challenging conditions.
The Johannesburg Canoe Club and its members have spent enormous amounts of time clearing the dead tree debris and unblocking sections of the river to make them navigable for paddlers to train although there are still sections where industry, farmers and municipal sewage leaks pollute the river despite calls to protect the environment.
Alex Masina was the first finisher at the river race, and also the first u.18 junior to finish the race in a time of 2:27, while Morgan Ziervogel led the women’s race finishing as first u.23 paddler as well in a time of 2:53.
Gavin Steyl and his partner Roland Smith won the K2 race on the same stretch of river in a time of 2:39.
