From land lubber to canoeist
The lure of Inanda Dam saw Themba Chonco learning to swim before taking to paddling, thanks to his coach
WHEN the family of Themba Chonco relocated from the South Coast town of Port Shepstone to Durban’s Inanda township, he had no idea what canoeing was.
But three years later, Chonco, 17, is set to compete in the biggest canoeing event for the first time. The Dusi Canoe Marathon starts on Thursday and ends on Saturday.
The water sport attracts thousands of internationally acclaimed paddlers to compete in the 120km race from Pietermaritzburg to Durban via the Msunduzi and umngeni rivers – and Chonco will be among them.
His love and passion for paddling developed when he moved to the township and found that the Inanda Dam was just a few metres away from his home. He learnt to swim and eventually became a paddler with the assistance of his coach, Sipho Canham, who introduced him to the sport.
“My mom was very scared when I started. She was basically opposing this. She thought I would not be able to make it, considering my age at the time. Where I grew up there was no water and I could not even swim.
“But when we relocated I used to visit the dam and I would watch other paddlers training, and that’s what got me interested,” he said.
Chonco has been training twice a day since September in preparation for the event.
Although he admits to being the so-called “new kid on the block”, he was confident he would do well when the big day arrived. His confidence was boosted by his performance when he qualified for the marathon.
“Out of hundreds of experienced paddlers, I managed to get position 37 in the 28km marathon recently.
“I will draw strength from that and, hopefully, improve,” he said.
Chonco said as he qualified with “flying colours” he was more likely to be positioned in batch A during the marathon. “When you are placed in batch A, you paddle next to the best.
“It’s a motivation for me and I will be holding on to that,” he said.
With 1 000 people competing in the event, Chonco aimed to be within the top 50.
“I want to do well so I can attract lucrative sponsors to lift myself up. I believe I have an advantage because I live close to the dam and I train whenever I want. I just need the proper equipment,” he said.
Canham was also optimistic about his performance. He said Chonco was one of the best paddlers and had also shown skills and enthusiasm in a short period.
He introduced many young people from the township to canoeing.
“I have no doubt he will make it. He is young and strong and he likes what he is doing.
“He will represent our team very well and his previous results speak for themselves,” said Canham.
The race is expected to attract thousands of visitors.
Kevin Trodd, Kwazulu-natal Canoe Union water liaison officer, said good rains were forecast for the early part of race-week.
Together with the carefully managed water releases from the three dams on the river system, would ensure the paddlers had good river levels to get them to Durban.
“It is looking great. After another dry summer we are now in a position to look forward to a Dusi with good water,” Trodd said.
He confirmed that the first day and a half would have the benefit of water from Henley Dam above Pietermaritzburg, which is no longer a water supply dam and is overflowing due to the recent rains.
“That’s important because when we release the water from Henley Dam, it will go into a river system that has water in it from the rains, making the release from Henley far more effective,” said Trodd.