More Racing
Robertson – Bonnivale (Breede River)
2 weekends ago I flew down to the Cape to do some training in the K2 with Graeme. On the Saturday we raced in one of the Breede marathon warm up races. With the river being extremely low the much lighter crew of Pierre-Andre Rabie and the other Andrew Birkette seemed to have the better of us through the shallow sections. Fortunately the finish was in a deep pool which allowed Graeme and I to put the hammer down to sneak past them in the sprint to take the win.
Camps Drift Night Race (Pietermaritzburg)
Last Thursday evening was a very special occasion as Cam and I decided to jump in the boat again for the first time in 3yrs. The last time we paddled together was when we crossed the line for the world title in the Czech Republic in 2008.
It was great fun to be racing with Cam again but we had our work cut out for us by the well tested combination oh Hank and Grant who took the first hot-spot prize. The 2nd hot-spot prize was at the end of a portage so Cam and I made sure we took that one! In the end it was Hank and Grant who with a very strong sprint took the race win.
For Cam and I that old feeling in the boat is still there but we definitely need a few sessions in the boat, and maybe in daylight to bring it to the surface again!
Dam2Dam 2 day river adventure
Over the weekend I did a new race on a section of river I have never seen before. Day 1 was from albert Falls weir down to Cumberland farm and day 2 from there to Nagle Dam.
The concept is that you have to race as a pair, so either in a K2 or as two K1’s making it fairly tactical but a lot of fun!
I teamed up with Shaun Griffen in K1’s. Shaun is a master in the tricky stuff making him the obvious choice for a race filled with A grade rapids all being negotiated blindly.
The first 18km of Day 1 was pretty straight forward allowing the K2’s the advantage but coming into the final 10km of awesome and technical rapids the K1 teams started closing the gap. At the overnight stop it was Mbanjwa/Zondi (K2) in the lead with Birkette/Mulder (K1’s) about 2min back in 2nd. Then there were 2 more K2’s followed by myself and Shaun (K1’s) in 5th.
Day 2 saw us off into the unknown on a section of river that promised to be packed with non-stop action and adventure! Within a few kilometers we had already caught and overtaken two of the K2’s, our choice of paddling K1’s was starting to pay off! After about 45min we came past Mbanjwa/Zondi (K2) who started the day in the lead and 4 and a half min ahead of us. Now all that was left out front was the K1 pairing of Birkette/Mulder and this was how things stayed until the finish.
Paddling through one of the most beautiful, untouched, remote valleys that I have ever seen, down some of the best rapids that I have ever encountered, this is a race that will be marked in my calendar as a ‘must do’ every single year! Thank you to DUCT and the Lembethe Canoe club for opening my eyes to to one of the best rivers in the country and it’s literally right on our doorstep!
