Solms targets her seventh Drak title

PIETERMARITZBURG ace Abby Solms will become the most successful paddler of all time at the competitive and popular N3TC Drak Challenge Canoe Marathon on 21 and 22 January if she completes her seventh win in the 2017 women’s race.

The 27-year-old Team Euro Steel star has five back-to-back wins in the 72km Southern Drakensberg classic, which she clearly prioritises as one of her favourite races on the national calendar.

She shares the race record of six wins with Ant Stott.

She also prizes the technical demands that the race throws at its participants as it tests the river skillset ahead of the FNB Dusi Canoe Marathon, which is less than a month later.

“I probably end up racing the Drak a bit too hard. I just get caught up in it; I love it so much!” said Solms.

“The women’s field at the Dusi is usually quite small, so if you have overcooked it on the Drak, we girls are lucky that it might not affect us that much on the Dusi. That’s my thinking, anyway!”

She also said that while the shorter, more technical Drak Challenge was a prized title in its own right, she also saw it as an important benchmark in her preparations for the Dusi.

Her river skills have improved significantly in recent years, and this season she hopes to finally add the one title that has eluded her – the Dusi Marathon K1 women’s crown. – Gameplan Media