Selcourt resident Tommy Booth enjoys a flooded Dusi Canoe Marathon
With recent heavy rains, the Dusi Canoe Marathon 2023 race had plenty of water, and fortunately, the problems with the quality of the water, which like many beaches in December, was resolved in time for the paddlers to enjoy the fast flows.
Selcourt resident Tommy Booth (40) was one of a few hundred paddlers who dared to take on the Umsindusi (Dusi) Canoe Marathon between February 16 and 18, which is an iconic race in South Africa for canoeists.
The Dusi Canoe Marathon is a three-day paddling and portaging race starting from Camps Drift in Pietermaritzburg and finishing at the Blue Lagoon in Durban.
In the 120km race that lasted three days, Booth finished 92nd overall in a time of 09:32 hours.
He fondly recalls that the race was his best and that he finished fifth in his age category, even though he hadn’t trained as much as for his prior Dusi races.
“I was really surprised, but with a lot of grace and perhaps a bit more wisdom, it all came together for me,” said Booth.
“Although this was my eighth race since my last one in 2018, the river was amazing. Previously, it was a very low one where we had to run most of the three days. I’ve always wanted to paddle a full Dusi and now I finally got the chance.”
Jennie Dallas, Gauteng Canoe Union, PR and media liaison describes the race as enjoyable despite the river being incredibly full and partially flooded.
“There have been years when paddlers had to drag their boats over the mud banks and rocky slabs where there was insufficient water to enable boats to paddle over them,” said Jennie.
The paddling and portaging race is where paddlers get out of the river and run, carrying their boats up hills and across fields for a few kilometres before being able to get back into the water.
“It is recognised as the world’s toughest canoe endurance marathon and has been taking place annually since 1951,” said Dallas.
