Locals take the win in Klip Race
WELTEVREDEN PARK – Canoeists paddle 72 km along the Vaal River in preparation for the Dusi.
Two local canoeists, Serge van Hee and Richard Daws, recently teamed up to win the SA K1 Championship Inter-provincial two day ‘Klip’ race as the first double, in a time of 05:20:00, as a test run before taking on the Dusi challenge.
The race, which took place on 31 January and 1 February, began at Buksies Holiday Resort in Kiblerpark, covering 72 km to finish at the Vaal River junction in Three Rivers.
The SA K1 Championship Inter Provincial attracted solid competition from other provinces with substantial support for prize money provided by various sponsors and a number of private canoeing paddlers to ensure a successful event.
This provided excellent preparation for the Dusi Canoe Marathon which will take place in KwaZulu-Natal from 19 to 21 February. The Dusi is the ultimate canoe challenge in South Africa, with massive white water rapids, tricky challenging obstacles, weirs, pipes to shoot through.
Van Hee said, “Day1 is going to be the hardest because there are lots of climbs in between up mountains, followed by the longest stage on Day 2 and Day 3 ends off with a short 34km sprint toward the finish line.”
Commenting about his fitness he mentioned that he did a lot of river training but mentioned that he would have liked to do more training on the lake as well.
“The Dusi is always a challenge and I hope we are ready as weather conditions can change any time, but we will do our best at the Dusi,” concluded van Hee.
