A good end to Dusi for JCC members
Brothers Stuart and Andrew Fraser from JCC had a successful Dusi.
THE 2018 FNB Dusi race took place between Pietermaritzburg and Durban on February 15, 16 and 17. It was a distance of some 120km in extreme heat and humid, overcast conditions which is common in the area at this time of the year.
While the river is frequently in flood between December and March, the last few years of drought has had a huge impact on the river water levels, making it tougher than it has been before although it was always known as the toughest endurance canoeing event in the world.
Many of the portages are based on the original Dusi of 1965 where the participants had wooden/canvas boats and no dams, no water releases and no choice other than to carry and walk with boats for kilometres around rocky, tricky rapids.
While top 10 finishers achieve gold (the aim of the book’s goal), the top 50 also receive a silver medal and the top three positions per age category are awarded podium positions as well as special medals.
The Sowetan paddlers who train at Emmarentia dam partnered up with locals from the Dusi valley – who know the river well, and train on it, so this gave them a superb advantage and they finished in the better positions – Siseko Ntondini with Sbonela Khwela, who finished third overall, a fantastic achievement for the Soweto Siseko as the top Gauteng finisher.
Young brothers Stuart and Andrew Fraser from the Johannesburg Canoe Club had a successful and enjoyable endurance race. Their training for the event was well planned as they finished as 57th double, with more than 400 doubles participating, in a time of 10:25. Proof that the harder you work and train, the more likely you’ll succeed.
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