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.