Dusi deadline looms
The 2016 event is a K2 race and will be taking place on Thursday to Saturday, 18 to 20 February.
CANOEISTS still wishing to get a decent seeding and early bird entry fee for this year’s FNB Dusi have until midnight on Wednesday, 27 January to get their entries to the organisors.
Entries received after this date will be batched at the back of the field and will be liable for a late entry fee of R150 per paddler.
The 2016 event is a K2 race and will be taking place on Thursday to Saturday, 18 to 20 February.
The Dusi Canoe Marathon was founded in 1951, and covers roughly 120km between the cities of Pietermaritzburg and Durban.
It is the biggest canoeing event on the African continent and attracts between 1 600 and 2 000 paddlers each year.
Temperatures can be extreme, often exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in the valleys.
Unique race
The race is unique in that it includes numerous of portages where the paddlers carry their craft over hills, either to cut out unrunnable rapids and cataracts, or to eliminate long loops in the river.
Most of these portages are through thick bush on steep and undulating terrain, and several of them are around 4km in length.
There are several seconding stations on portages during each leg of the race where marshalls provide water, sports drinks or, in some cases, food.
