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Underberg – With a record
entry for the Hansa Powerade Drakensberg Challenge canoe marathon assured, a
bumper turnout is expected for a truly unique sporting events that takes
place in Underberg on the same weekend as the canoeing race.
The annual inter-canoe club golf-day at the picturesque nine-hole Underberg
Country club on Saturday afternoon has developed into a light-hearted, but
nonetheless fiercely competitive contest that is now synonymous with the
Drak Challenge. It also sports arguably the most pretentious and gaudy
trophy in South African sport.
“The Beast” as it has become affectionately know, stands more than a metre
tall, and is made of gold and black metal on a hefty marble base, and is
housed in the pub at the Himeville Arms because the winner each year has
been unable to transport in home.
“The Beast” has a colourful history, reflected by the Spanish inscription on
the base of the trophy. It was won by Mark Perrow on the Pisuerga river
marathon in Northern Spain in 1990, and event that he won five times in
total.
“It’s a very typical Spanish trophy, gaudy and completely over–the-top”,
said Perrow. “That year we won a few trophies on the tour of Spain. We had
to buy back one of the doubles that we had taken over and then sold, to load
all the trophies into the boat to get them back home. The boat weighed 90kg
at the airport!”, recalls Perrow.
The trophy was donated to the Drak Challenge golf-day via Colin Simpkins,
the Johannesburg paddler who had won the golf challenge for the last four
years. Perrow, who relocated from Johannesburg to Durban several years ago,
wants a KZN team to take it away from Simpkins.
“I am delighted that my trophy is now being used for the golf day. But I
want to insist that someone follows Simpkins to count his shot, and checks
his handicap properly beforehand”, he said.
The event starts at 2:30pm on Saturday afternoon, and is open to all
paddlers, seconds, spectators and participants in the Hansa powerade
Drakensberg Challenge.
The winner will not be required to take “The Beast” home afterwards.
Late entries are still
being taken for the race. Details can be found at
www.canoesa.org.za/DrakChallenge
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Matt Botha, of SABMiller, and Nicole Stockl,
from Powerade, struggle with "The Beast", the massive trophy that is presented each year
at the Hansa Powerade Drak Challenge interclub golf day, widely regarded as
the most pretentious and grotesque trophy in South African sport. Pic : Dave Macleod/Gameplan Media
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