Ozzie Gladwin Canoe Marathon

Sunday’s race was the first of the Dusi seeding races and Natal Canoe Club along with great support from Chemspec put on a great event.

We started off with an 8km paddle on Albert Falls dam, followed by a 2.5km run down to the Umgeni where we paddled a further 18km down the river to the finish.

On the dam section there was a 3 boat break away comprised of myself, Michael Mbanjwa and Mark Mulder. Len Jenkins unfortunately just missed making it across in to the front group and hung just off the back for the first 4km. Mulder and myself worked hard to try to shake Mbanjwa before the portage knowing that there would be trouble if we got to the take out together. Mbanjwa managed to hang on all the way to the take out and it did not take him long to open up a healthy lead. By the time we were back in our boats for the river section Mbanjwa had opened up 1min48sec over me with Mulder fighting it out with the chasing pack for third.

Fortunately I was able to catch Mbanjwa about 4km from the end and we stuck together until the final 200m. Across the line it was me then Mbanjwa, followed by Mulder in 3^rd.

 

MATelec Presentation at Natal Canoe Club

MATelec generously held a congratulary function for myself and Cam at our home club last Thursday after the club time trial. There were free drinks from the bar as well as wors rolls for all who attended. MATelec donated a cheque for R10 000 for Cam and I to present to a charity of our choice. We decided to go for the Lugasani Idlela Trust and their back to school project. An awesome project that pays for the school fees and uniforms of young kids from underprivileged backgrounds who can not afford to be educated.

Yann from MATelec said some very kind words about us and then Cam and I got to share a few exiting stories about our great race in Czech.

All in all it was a great evening and thanks again to Natal Canoe Club for hosting the event.

Lowveld Croc, another title

With an 8 cumec release from Kwena Dam the water in the river was full of life making sure that every paddler’s concentration levels would be pushed to the max. Massive rain and hail storms form Friday afternoon had also contributed to an even fuller river slightly further down stream. (Some of the pictures below are just after the hail storm).

 

The Crocodile being such a narrow river makes it impossible for a batch start. As a result the entire field is sent off individually in time trial format, the fist ten boats separated by a minute and the boats thereafter 30 seconds apart. The seedings are done according to the national grading ladder.

I was the first boat to go off and if all went well it would mean that I would not see another paddler for the full two days of racing. The fast moving water was challenging to say the least and it was on numerous occasions that I found myself being pushed off the line in a rapid that I had already set my sights on… On the other hand though the higher water opened up a lot of new lines in each rapid allowing the paddlers who did not know the river too well to be spoilt for choice.

My first little swim came at Connors corner about 8km into the day. I was very fortunate to be able to get my boat to a grass island in the centre of the rapid where I could empty, get back in and avoid losing too much time.

I had an extremely close call at rapid 14. I was aiming for a small gap between two massive rocks, got washed too far left and ended up launching over the top of the left big rock. The drop off the other end was a bit too high for me and in the air on the way down I tipped over to the right and prepared myself for a nasty swim. Somehow though, as the current caught my nose it pushed me back upright and I was able to negotiate the bottom half of the rapid successfully.

My second and final swim for day was 3.5km from finish at Carisbrooke rapid, where at least I was able to keep the spectators that had gathered entertained!

I crossed the line 1^st and had to spend the next 20min patiently waiting to see the times that the other top paddlers clocked in.

The first days results for the 30km section; myself in 1^st in 1hr52min, 2^nd Piers Cruickshank 1min35sec behind, 3^rd Jacques Theron, 4^th Mike Harris, 5^th Mark Smith, 6^th Barry Lewin.

 

Day 2 was started in elapsed time format, so myself off first followed 1min35sec later by Piers. I felt more comfortable in the rough water and found a good rhythm early on in the day. Safely through the first 16km my confidence was up but it was at Rapid 13 and a half that I was knocked back down to size… After a tiring swim I was back on my way and fortunately still could not see a boat behind me. I had a clean run for the remaining 13km and finished about 2min ahead of Piers to claim my 7^th win in the Lowveld Crock Canoe Marathon. Theron came in 3^rd, followed by Harris, Lewin and then Smith.

 

Eric and his team from Lowveld Canoe Club did a fantastic job with the organization of the race and I am just sad to think that I will have to wait another full year before the race will be held again. As far as rivers go this one gets my number 1 vote, awesome, awesome, awesome!

 

  

TV times for World Marathon Champs

For African TV viewers MNet has made some changes to the
TV times for the next Aquatic Fanatic, which includes the World
Marathon Champs highlights and the
Hansa Powerade Fish;
Wednesday 22 October 2008 SS1 21:00 – 22:00 (Premier)
Thursday 23 October 2008 SS2/SS2A 07:30 – 08:00 R
Friday 24 October 2008 CSN, SS1 & SS1A 15:30 – 16:30 R
Saturday 25 October 2008 SS2 & SS2A  00:00 – 01:00 R
Saturday 25 October 2008 SS6 11:30 – 12:30 R              
Sunday 26 October 2008 CSN, SS2 & SS2A 03:00 – 04:00 R
Sunday 26 October 2008 SS1 & SS1A  17:00 – 18h00 R
Wednesday 29 October 2008 SS1 & SS1A  00:30 – 01:30 R

Crocodile River, hippos and black mambas

Nelspruit in Mpumalanga is the home of the Crocodile River. An awesome, very technical little river which doesn’t need much water to make its steep gradient and almost non stop rapids extremely exciting. The two day race starts this Saturday at the base of the Kwena dam wall with a healthy water release of 7 and a half cumecs.

Unfortunately my body has been very run down since my return from Europe and I have been battling for the past 3 weeks to fight off a bout of flu…

On Monday I was still feeling slightly rough but managed a short 5.5km on the river. I must say it felt really strange to be paddling in rapids again after spending the last 7 months in a sprint boat on flat water. As a result I was not at all surprised when I found myself upside down and swimming at the bottom of Carisbrooke rapid!

On Tuesday and Wednesday I was feeling much better so on both days decided to take on the full 30km of river that we will be racing on this weekend.

I can honestly say that this is one of the best rivers flowing through one of the most beautiful valleys in the whole world. Where else do you get clean water flowing down non stop rapids, through lush, cool, green trees and often with a sheer red cliff reaching high into the sky right on the rivers edge. For 99% of the time you don’t see people or houses, only packs of baboon, troops of monkeys, fish eagles, falcons, all sorts of buck, and on rare occasion’s otter, hippos and even crocs.

With such an amazing setting it always surprises me to see so few new faces on the start line each year. It is a race that people seem to be nervous of, but in a stable boat and with a role of duct tape under the seat every paddler in the country should be here.

 

 

 

Fish River Disappointment

Unfortunately for Cam and myself I had a bit of sore throat that progressed into something a bit worse… Not feeling so great I spent the whole of the day before the race in bed and by the evening I was feeling pretty rotten. With an elevated heart rate I decided to make the call that it would be better for us not to start the race. It was pretty strange driving to the race without a boat or paddle. Our role for the race was to be the support crew for Shaun Griffin and Stu Clifton. Although disappointed not to be taking part in the race we did our best to make sure that Shaun and Stu had their best race possible. Seconding although less tiring is far more stressful than actually paddling. Trying to make sure that you get from one point to the next without missing your paddlers on roads far more challenging than the actual rapids!

Eventual winners of the race were Hank McGregor and Grant Van der Walt, followed closely by the Louw brothers. Putting in an awesome performance to take third was the massive crew of Doug Bird and Nic Burden.