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Underberg- A perfectly
timed thunderstorm has hit the elusive catchment area of the upper Umzimkulu
river and has boosted the levels of the river for the weekend’s Hansa
Powerade Drakensberg Challenge canoe marathon.
Race officials had been anxiously watching the level of the upper river
dwindle at the start at Castleburn, in the foothills of the Southern
Drakensberg mountains, as the berg stream gradually emptied after the good
rains last weekend.
However, the Thursday evening downpour changed all that, and now race
organisers will be carefully monitoring the real possibility of another
storm on Friday night, which could cause the river to burst it’s banks, and
create testing conditions for the 28km first day.
“Paddlers are expected to bring their helmets to all river races. If we have
a repeat of Thursday nights storm, then they might have to wear their
helmets”, said race organiser Richard Jardine.
The race has attracted a massive field of 886 paddlers in 642 craft, an
increase of 39% on last year’s entry.
The men’s race looks to provide a riveting showdown between some of the
countries top river racers, heightened by the news that Ant Stott, who has
won five of the last six Drak Challenge titles will not be racing, due to
his commitments to the K4 sprint crew aiming at the Beijing Olympics in
2008.
Shaun Biggs has however secured leave from his K4 duties to race the Drak
Challenge, as a swansong to his river season before he gets down to the
nitty-gritty of sprint training.
He will be locked in a tussle with the classy likes of Len Jenkins, Michael
Mbanjwa, Clint Pretorius, Hank McGregor, Brett Bartho, Loveday Zondi and
on-form junior Stephen Bird for the overall honours, and the other two
places on the podium.
“Dusi Duke” Martin Dreyer is also racing from the privileged start of A
batch. This will be his second outing on the Drak Challenge, having secured
a fifth in 2000 with Peter Cole, when the race was still run in a K2
championship format.
The women’s race is a
simpler matter to call. Abbey Miedema makes her debut on the Drak Challenge.
However her pedigree in all the other river races in the country, together
with her good form that saw her take the Hansa Powerade Dusi title with
Alexa Lombard, makes her the top female seed in the race.
Her challenge will come from the steadily improving Carol Joyce, who was
second last year, Kirsty van der Merwe, who sensationally led after the
first stage last year following Lombard’s double-swim at Black Murray rapid,
and Lorna Oliver.
The two day race provides a fascinating blend of challenges. The first stage
starts high in the mountains where the river is narrow and steep, and
charges through ten kilometres of tough rocky bends known as the Valley of a
Thousand Rapids.
This ends with Black Murray rapid, after which the river widens and meets up
with several tributaries that provide steady flowing water through the flats
to the overnight stop at the Swartberg Road bridge.
The 38km second stage starts with a mild 10km paddle into Underberg, before
the steep Underberg weir heralds the start of the 6km long Underberg Gorge,
with a number of testing rapids like Tokolosh, the Big Dipper, Bucking
Bronco, and the toughest rapid of the entire race at the Glenhaven resort.
The race finishes close to the Coleford resort at Early Mists farm, after
passing through the lower Gorge, which includes Mkhulu and Heaven and Hell
rapids.
The weekend includes the popular inter club golf-day on Saturday afternoon,
which is fanned by years of inter-provincial rivalry, as Gauteng teams have
robbed the KZN teams of the massive gaudy trophy that is awarded to the
winning canoe club fourball.
The trophy, known as “The Beast” has been snatched by the obsessive Colin
Simpkins from Dabulamanzi canoe club in Joburg for the last four years. In a
concerted effort to arrest this decline, a number of potent KZN fourballs
have been put together, including a fourball made up of Oscar Chalupsky and
his son Luke, hell bent on lifting “the Beast”.
Details can be found at
www.canoesa.org.za/DrakChallenge
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