Solomon prays for rain in bid to regain Berg title
With defending Berg River Canoe Marathon champion Hank McGregor of KwaZuluNatal passing up the opportunity to go for a 12th title in favour of competing in bigger races overseas, the smart money is on Cape Town’s former winner Graeme Solomon.
The 56th edition of the 240km four-day paddling epic from Paarl to Velddrif gets under way on Tuesday with the prerace time trial that will determine who will wear the yellow jersey and take pole position for the official start on Wednesday.
With the Cape region gripped in a drought, race organisers have still to decide on routes for the four stages. Solomon is praying for rain. “River levels are low and that definitely hurts my chances somewhat of challenging for first place,” Solomon said.
“We have four stages to navigate and all of them will be difficult, not only because of the lack of water but also tree blockages, many below the water line and the ever-present hyacinth that seems to have gobbled up even more river since last year’s race.
“Add in other obstacles and you have a situation where past experience counts for little and a case where you approach things as if it were a new experience and take the good with the bad.
“As far as my preparations, last year I felt tired before the race because of all the pre-Berg races I contested, so it is a different build-up this time and I feel okay about things,” he said.
“Over the weekend I tripped various sectors of the river and found it to be a rather fruitless exercise; no clear passages for an outright paddle and myriad little things that are sure to make for a difficult ride to the finishing line on Saturday. I’m sure the other top contenders have been doing their homework and the foreign contingent I hear were the first to enter the event and have been out on the route for days trying to work their tactics,” Solomon said.
A paddler from overseas is yet to win the race.
Solomon is one of the greats of the Cape race. The evergreen paddler, who came second in 2014, won for the first time in 2001 at the age of 28 and finished second seven times and has 11 podium finishers in total from his 18 Berg finishers.
It is an amazing set of returns for the Bamboo WarehouseKnysna Racing athlete and he will be gunning for another podium finish with a new boat and possibly another victory if Sunday’s rain continues well into the week.
Solomon’s chief threats are Hungary’s Adrian Boros, who finished third on debut in 2016, and Czech Republic’s Petr Mojzisek who will be aiming to improve on 2016’s sixthplace finish. “Without trying to sound arrogant, I feel I am the only local paddler able to match and beat the internationals,” said Solomon.
Popular Giel van Deventer will be lining up for his 48th Berg at the age of 67.
As for the women’s race, it should be a walk in the park for double defending champion Bianca Beavitt, as less than a handful of women have entered. The Pink Lady-Century City stalwart has been training hard for the defence of her crown, and was in top nick when she won the women’s SA K1 River Marathon crown at the recent Pink Lady Drakenstein marathon, which covers much of the first third of the race.