Shooting the rapids
With its subtropical climate, warm sea, rapid rivers and magnificent scenery, KZN is a perfect playground for competitive canoeists, weekend warriors and part-time paddlers,
Mission, Little John and Graveyard rapids, Devil’s Cauldron, Hole in the Wall portage, and Taxi Rapid — all places you’ll encounter in a KwaZulu-Natal sporting event that is every bit as epic as the Comrades ultra-marathon is to running and the Amashova Durban Classic is to
cycling.
These rather evocative names are challenging way points on the three-day, 120km Dusi Canoe Marathon, an event that has carved a niche for itself as the biggest canoeing event in Africa and one of the world’s most popular river marathons. Attracting up to 1,600 paddlers annually, it is also regarded as one of the drivers in the province becoming the country’s leading canoeing centre.
There’s no other way to describe it: canoeing is huge in KwaZulu-Natal. There are more than 1,500 licensed canoeists, which means people licensed to participate in races. But many times that number go down to the sea and rivers with their kayaks and surf skis before work, after work, and at weekends to get their fill of adventure and the great outdoors.
Not only does it have its army of weekend warriors, but the province has also produced a host of top-class canoeists — the latest being Andy Burkett (2018 ICF Canoe Marathon World Championship winner), who has dominated the Dusi for about a decade. He recently won the gold medal at the men’s 21km marathon event at the World Games at
Birmingham, Alabama, in the US in July, pipping current Danish world champion Mads Pedersen at the post in what was described as a stunning victory.
Another is canoeing phenomenon, Hank McGregor, who has not only won almost all local titles available, but also 11 ICF Canoe Marathon World Championship gold medals and is still competing at the top level at 44.
KwaZulu-Natal Canoe Union administrator, John Oliver, agrees that the Dusi has played a critical part in the popularity of canoeing as a sport in the province. But just as important, he says, are the province’s natural attributes including an almost subtropical climate, warm all yearround sea, short, rapidly running rivers suited to all levels of difficulty for paddlers, and simply magnificent scenery.
The province abounds with rivers perfect for canoeing, and many of them include dams and reservoirs along the route providing flat water paddling, as does the St Lucia Estuary.
Other factors that have also helped to drive canoeing participation have been its popularity at schools, particularly Midlands and South Coast schools, and a strong development programme that has even reportedly impressed the department of sports, arts, culture & recreation. The relatively simple process of getting going is also a big plus — there’s no rigging to be sorted out, the kayak is put in the water, and off you paddle. The entry-level costs are also
fairly low compared with many other water sports: a basic used kayak and paddle can be bought on auction for less than R2,000.
It is probably no coincidence that one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Canoe Marathon was the late globally renowned conservationist Ian Player, himself a passionate canoeist. Player actually won the race on the first three occasions, though at that time, in the 1950s, there was no defined course. It was more of an exploration than a race and took him about a week to complete, rather than three days.
Oliver says there are a multitude of canoeing disciplines. Canoeing covers everything involving forward-facing paddling on a watercourse, whereas rowing involves facing backwards. The most popular at KwaZulu-Natal’s 40-plus clubs and where the provincial paddlers tend to excel, he says, include river marathons, flat water marathons and sprints on flat water in lanes at varying distances up to 5,000m for inland canoeists.
Then there’s the hugely popular surf ski discipline up and down the coast, where the favourite activity for experts is to paddle out to sea and then paddle downwind (with the wind behind you), riding the swell.
Each of the many disciplines have their own competitions. Among those for surf ski paddlers are races such as the Marine Golden Mile Challenge, the famous Bay Union King of the Bay race — which is claimed to be the world’s oldest surf ski race — the SBS Tanks Pirates Umhlanga Pirates and the Scottburgh2Brighton.
So if you love to test yourself physically, crave the camaraderie of spending time on the river with friends, or you’re simply a water baby that needs some decompression time, KZN is your perfect playground.