Like a ‘Fisher’ out of water
He covered a distance of 31 kilometres from Reitz in the Free State to Tweeling, near Frankfort.
The Liebensbergvlei River race was hosted by the Maluti Canoe Club based in Bethlehem in conjunction with the Victoria Lake Canoe Club based in Germiston, on Saturday, 4 November, and covered a distance of 31 kilometres from Reitz in the Free State, to the finish at Tweeling, near Frankfort.
The river water is pumped from the Lesotho Highlands project into the Ash River near Clarens, and flows into the Liebensbergvlei River through Bethlehem and the Free State into the Vaal Dam and is an exciting stretch of clean fresh water, with rolling wave trains, a few shootable weirs and some fun white-water, and, while enjoyable, is quite challenging for novices in their first months of river racing.
Photo: Submitted
Calvin Fisher finished the 31km river race in 2 hours 35 minutes – a very good time for 30kms and a first-time river racer. He thoroughly enjoyed his first river race experience despite a number of swims, mastering the rapids quite successfully and gaining an extensive new understanding of rivers and rapids along the way. He has previously done a few local Klip River Races with the Florida Lake coaches, to obtain his certification for River Proficiency and gained the knowledge required to assist him to participate in river races, but a few weeks later took on the 31km river race with numerous rapids – and did exceptionally well. Some previous paddle-ski exposure at the coast and a love of moving water helped with his confidence, of course.
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