Preparations for Fish River Marathon under way
The river race season has kicked off despite the lack of rain as the rivers bake and dry up in the heat of early spring.
On Sunday, 25 August, Florida Lake Canoe Club (FLCC) hosted a race on the Klip River from Daleside in the south, to the finish in Meyerton.
The river race season has kicked off despite the lack of rain as the rivers bake and dry up in the heat of early spring.
The distance of 30km was to provide an opportunity for paddlers to become familiar with white water canoeing and gain experience, as well as points towards participating in the major A Grade Fish River Canoe Marathon late in September.
New paddlers also require six river points to qualify for participation in the Fish River race, and FLCC’s river race provided the opportunity to qualify.
For some paddlers it will be their first A Grade river race with huge white water/ rolling wave trains. For others it will be a challenge to improve the time and enjoyment of the previous year’s Fish River Marathon achievement.
Weltevreden Park paddler, Grant Thiel is by no means a novice on the white water of the Fish River and he, with Kevin Holmes and Mark Handley, steered a K3 (three-man kayak) down the narrow rocky rapids on the Klip River.
The trio went on to finish the FLCC 30km river race in a time of 2 hours and 11 minutes, as the first K3 finishers.
Jennie Dallas of the Gauteng Canoe Union said, “The exciting wild white water on the Fish River is very suitable for the K3s, which plough through the waves like a Sherman Tank. They are all looking forward to their exciting Fish adventure.”
