Vaal Marathon- SA K2 river championships

Michael Mbanjwa (Banji) and I once more jumped in the boat together to do the 2 day Vaal River marathon as part of our Dusi preparation. At close to 40km per day it’s quite a tough one.
About 8km into day 1 at the Visgat weir Hank and Len got a bit of a gap over us. We worked hard to close them down at the same time getting some clear water between ourselves and the 3rd placed boat of King and Basson. We spent most of the day working with Hank and Len to gradually open the gap over the 3rd boat.
Theron and Cruickshank who badly holed their boat after about 5km and had to stop for repairs had a stormer of a day. After loosing about 3min they came flying through the field to finish only 40sec behind us along with 3 other boats.
Day 2- In the elapsed time start we went off 1sec behind Hank and Len. It did not take long at all for the 2nd group to make contact with us after starting 40sec later. Almost immediately as the group caught us 6 boats become 4, the front group was comprised of Hank/Len, Myself/Banji, Theron/Cruickshank, King/Basson.
The pace varied throughout the day with most of the flat out racing being done in and around the rapids. When it came to the end sprint all 4 boats will still together. It was Len and Hank who took the win from Theron and Cruickshank, Banji and I were content with 3rd. King and Basson had to settle for 4th after being stuck on the outside for the 90 degree turn into the final sprint.

Hansa Powerade Ozzie Gladwin

Michael Mbanjwa and I teamed up on Sunday to compete in our first race together this season. Banji came down from JHB on Thursday so we were able to do 3 training sessions together before the race. Popes Canoe centre has provided us with an awesome new boat. It is the Reagle (high line eagle for rivers), but he has now taken off the wings allowing it to slice almost effortlessly through the water, especially through the rapids.

The race started off with a 6km paddle on Albert Falls Dam followed by a 3km portage down to the Umgeni River and then a 21km down river section.
By the time we got to the portage the front group was down to 3 boats. Ourselves, McGregor and Jenkins, Arthur and Stubbs. McGregor and Jenkins set off like rabbits up the first hill so I was more than happy to have Banji at the back of my boat to push me along!
For the next 12km the 2 lead boats stuck together right up to the Cascades section of rapids. It was here that I made a serious error on one of my lines allowing Jenkins/McGregor an immediate 50m advantage. Over the next 9km to the finish line they stretched that gap to 40 seconds. Arthur and a slightly off colour Stubbs hung on for 3rd a few minutes further behind.
Although 2nd Banji and I were very happy with our race and just how comfortable we felt in the boat together. There are now just over 2 and a half months until Dusi so with a lot of hard work together I’m confident that speed in the boat will continue to improve.

Fish River Marathon in a K3- Just for fun!

After a tough world champs I decided that I would make enjoyment the priority for this years Fish River Canoe Marathon. To ensure that I had no chance of racing I decided to team up with two of my loyal sponsors in a K3! Owen Hemingway of Pope’s Canoe Centre and Yann Leclezio of Matelec filled the other two seats in the boat.

Owen has designed an awesome new K3 Yeti which is basically an extended, high-line Accord so it is very stable. I was very impressed with the boats handling, the rudder responds at the same speed as a standard K2 making it really easy to control through the rapids. As a result we had perfect runs through Keith’s flyover, Salt pans rapid and over Cradock weir.

There were over 40 K3’s entered in this years race and judging by the amount of fun that we had I have no doubt that this category will be massive in future river races!

Len Jenkins was the clear winner of the race claiming his 5^th title as well as smashing the race record. Germany’s Max Hoff was 2^nd and Hank McGregor 3^rd.

Link to the official Fish River Canoe Marathon site here.
Fish River Canoe Marathon race report here.

K2 Silver medal!

Big thanks to:
Shaun- for paddling his guts out with me!
MATelec- for making it possible for me to pursue my dreams.
Tropitone- keeping the sun burn at bay as well as for making life easier.
Nelo- for another perfect flat water boat.
Julia Thomas- for her endless hours of physio on my aching and injured muscles.
Neil Cunningham- for his extremely generous chiropractic expertise.
Steve Jordaan and Rob McLean- for putting the perfect marathon tour together.
Marcus Melck- for his paddling and technical advice.
My friends and family- for all of their amazing support!
My girlfriend Sue- for putting up with my training routine and exhaustion.
The Big Guy upstairs- for continuously guiding and protecting me.

The Race:
Jeepers that was a tough one! As we pulled away from the start line the pace of this years world marathon champs was just mind blowing. The first 1.5km to the first turn was one of the hardest of my life. Every boat was just so so fast and the attacks and surges of maximum speed where non stop all the way to that first turn. Shaun’s positioning was brilliant and we eventually settled into a good position at the front end of the pack. Our heart rates at this stage were still through the roof and we did our best to try and relax slightly before the first portage. This is world champs though so you can’t expect to come into this race and not have to go through scary amounts of physical pain.

After the first run we were fortunate to get into a four boat break away. The chasing pack was made up of a lot of extremely strong crews and not once were we able let the pace drop off in fear of being caught. The four leading boats were made up of ourselves, the top Spanish crew, a Czech and a Portuguese boat. All four boats took their turn to do the work at the front and as a result ensuring that the pace of the race was as fast as it possibly could be.

The chasing group at times almost made contact with us. It was the other South African crew of Van der Walt and McGregor who had basically rejoined our group before the Spaniards put in another hard burn to shake them off again.

Our four boats continually worked well together and were all faultless through the first six laps and six portages.

We hit the 7^th and final portage at a cracking pace and ran it faster than our little legs ever thought possible. The Spanish and ourselves got a slight gap on the other two boats on that last portage and the Spaniards led us out to the final turn. We turned round those last buoys to line up for the final 500m straight to the finish line, the Spaniards still in the lead. 300m to go and Shaun and I put the hammer down. The boat immediately responded and we slowly edged past them by about half a boat length. Within the next 100m they had pulled themselves back up to level with us. Our muscles were burning and cramps were kicking in all over our bodies. 100m to go and they edged ahead. Too fast, too strong, too good for us on the day, the Spaniards cross the line first about half a boat length ahead of us. Gold to Spain, silver to South Africa and bronze to the delighted Czechs. Van der Walt and McGregor do well to claim 5^th spot. Both South African boats in the top 5, that has got to say something about the standard of our paddling back home!


Official results.
Race video from official site. (click on ‘on demand’ on the live stream tv screen, then on K2 senior part 1 and then K2 senior part 2)
In the press.

Van der Walt brothers make SA proud!

This morning it was Brandon who followed in his older brother Grants footsteps to claim the Junior World Marathon title. Brandon raced a brilliant race and powered his way to the front after the last portage and held off all other contenders to claim the victory.

This afternoon it was Grant who raced a clever race in the U23 category in what seemed to be very fast paced and tactical race. In the energy sapping final sprint Grant too managed to hold off fellow competitors to claim the U23 World title! Two more gold’s for the Van der Walt household, well done!!!

Yesterday our masters once again showed us youngsters how it’s done in the K2 races by adding a few more medals to the South African medal tally.

Watch the races live on the internet! Link to the official World Champs site, start lists, start times and results. (Portugal is 1hr behind SA time)

Tomorrow is the first of the senior races where Shaun Rubenstein and Len Jenkins will be carrying our medal hopes in the K1 section. Bridgette Hartley and Mish Eray are our ladies K1 representatives and will be sure to impress.

Shaun is looking the strongest that I have seen him in many months and that K1 gold is definitely within his grasp. Multiple World Marathon champion Emilio Merchan from Spain is looking solid after his K2 1000m world title in Canada last month. Manuel Busto from Spain is also back in the mix this year and will be aiming to add another win to his impressive list of world marathon titles.

After a full day of rest today my body is chomping to go and I can’t wait for tomorrow’s final training session. Inspired by the gold medals that the South Africans have already bagged along with the excitement of tomorrows men’s K1 race my nerves are beginning to tingle ever so slightly!

An added bonus for me tomorrow is the arrival of my father and my brother-in-law John. This is the first international event ever that my dad has been able to join me for so I will be doing my utmost to ensure that I make his trip to Portugal worthwhile!

Feeling good!

This evening Shaun and I had one of our final K2 training sessions together before the big day. The boat was really feeling smooth although the wind was almost blowing us away and the waves were crashing over the deck of the boat! During our interval session we both felt extremely powerful and controlled. We practiced a few portages and our take-out, running and put-ins were pretty slick. Lets just hope that we can reproduce that on Sunday!

I will be doing two K1 sessions tomorrow, resting on Friday and then training on Saturday, the day before our K2 race on Sunday.

The masters did pretty well in their K1’s today picking up 1x gold, 2x bronze and a few 4^th and 5^th places.

Count down to World marathon Champs

I arrived in Porto, Portugal on Monday morning to great, sunny weather. We are staying in a very fancy hotel about 35 min drive from the course. This is by far the best accommodation I have ever stayed in away from home!

On Monday afternoon Shaun and I got to unwrap our new Nelo K2. We are racing in the Vanquish 3 and have opted for the XXL to cope with the potentially big waves on the course. The whole boat is plane white and very sexy!

We got to paddle the K2 for the first time on Tuesday morning and it feels awesome. The wind, waves and current on the course make it very difficult to find a good rhythm so it feels like you are continuously working very hard on the water. The portage is a tough one, the take-out jetty is very short and there is not much space for too many boats to get out at the same time, a guaranteed bun fight on race day! You then run up a steep ramp, along soft beach sand and down to a beach put-in where it gets deep very quickly making it quite difficult o climb into a K2. I think that such a tough course will suite us because it always seems that when the conditions are extreme South Africans pull through!

World Champs, the time is near…

It’s time to go to Portugal! On Sunday I will be boarding my plane for Portugal and will arrive early on Monday in time for a morning paddle on the course. I t is quite a strange feeling only paddling the K2 this year but at the same time quite a relief to only have to focus my energy into one race. We are racing in a small place called Crestuma just outside Porto.

A bonus for me is that we are racing on the same course that I won the K1 World Cup marathon last year so am familiar with the area. It is a pretty little place and I am looking forward to going back there.

The South African team for this years worlds is really looking strong. Our junior side is more than likely going to bring home a medal or two. As always our masters will show their usual dominance. The ladies team made up of Bridgette Hartley, Mish Eray, Carol Joyce and Jen Hodson are potent. The men’s team of Shaun Ruby and Len Jenkins in K1, Hank McGregor/Grant Van der Walt and Shaun/myself in K2’s will also surely be a force to be reckoned with.

Here is the link to the official World Champs site.

New sponsor- TROPITONE!

After teaming up for the next K2 Dusi Michael Mbanjwa and I have launched into an exciting new partnership with Tropitone. Tropitone is South Africa’s designer name in sun protection and is getting ready to take on the paddling world by storm! Whether you’re in your boat, on the beach or just having fun in the sun, Tropitone will provide you with the ultimate in sun protection.

I am so excited to have Tropitone working together alongside my title sponsors MATelec. Paddling, sun and sun defense go hand in hand so a partnership like this just makes so much sense!
Click here to take a look at Tropitones latest sun care range.

Look out for the acti-sport spray, aerosol, lotion and sportstick, as well as the new non sticky Splash range.

Scary but back on track

Somehow during my final few days in Spain I picked up a bit of a chest infection which ended up lingering in my body for far longer than I would have liked. My first week and a half back in SA was spent ticking off every hour that I was unable to train. At such a vital time before the world champs to say that I was slightly panicky as well as a bit stressed would be an understatement of monumental proportions!

After a battering of blood tests I was finally given the all clear and headed up to Johannesburg to do some pretty serious training with my K2 marathon partner for this year Shaun Rubenstein.

Starting first thing on Monday morning we threw our body’s right into some vigorous training. Although I had lost a touch of fitness through the illness Shaun and I immediately found a brilliant rhythm and our boat was gliding almost effortlessly through the water. Another huge bonus is the fact that Shaun has once again been able to find the form that has been somewhat eluding him for the past year.

By Wednesday night I was starting to almost feel on top of things again and we managed to knock 30 seconds off the long standing Benoni 10km time trial record.

We had another brilliant session this morning and the boat seems to really be flying!

I head back down to Durban this evening and Shaun will be joining me down there on Sunday night. We will have time for a few more hard K2 sessions at sea level before heading over to Portugal at the end of the week. We now have just over two week until race day in Crestuma, Portugal.