DUSI DOUBLE DELIGHT
ANDY Birkett and Khumbulani Nzimande cruised to victory yesterday on the third and final day of the Dusi Canoe Marathon. Birkett won his 10th title and Nzimande his first. |
THE 2020 Dusi Canoe Marathon came to a thrilling end at Blue Lagoon yesterday as Andy Birkett won his 10th title along with first-time winner Khumbulani Nzimande, as Tamika and Bianca Haw coasted to a maiden women’s crown.
Both crews started the third and final day with solid leads in their respective races as 36km stood between them and victory.
In the men’s race the Euro Steel pair of Birkett and Nzimande powered across the dam stretch that starts the day. They increased their lead by forty seconds but lost that advantage when Nzimande couldn’t put his splash cover on in the Tops Needle rapid and they took on water.
“It’s never plain sailing on the Dusi and you will always have some hiccups along the way,” Birkett said after the win. “It’s been such an incredible journey with Khumbulani and he was so tough and showed incredible BMT to step up every day. He was so strong and I think he got fitter as the days went on!”
A first Dusi title for the 24-year-old Nzimande was more than he could have dreamed of.
“I am so so so happy,” he said with a huge smile. “I am completely lost for words, it’s been an amazing experience. Over the last months I have learnt so much from Andy and have changed so much.”
Sbonelo Khwela and Thulani Mbanjwa put in a near flawless performance but couldn’t close the gap.
“We just tried to put the hammer down from the beginning of the day,” Mbanjwa said.
“Our approach was to hit it as hard as we could but take it easy through the big rapids and that’s what we did.
“With Andy and Khumbulani not making any big mistake today it meant that it was going to be so hard for us to catch them.
“Paddling around (the Burma Road portage) was a lot of fun and we were a little nervous at Island One but Sbonelo was so good with the steering at the back so we got through easily.”
The Capetonian pair of Lance Kime and Shaun Rubenstein claimed the last spot on the podium.
In the women’s race Tamika and Bianca maintained their significant lead on a mistake-free day into Durban for a first title for the Southern Drakensberg sisters.
Younger sister Bianca, who was in the front of the boat, was ecstatic that they achieved their goal of an overall win.
“It still hasn’t quite sunk in yet that we have won!” she said. “We wanted to win the race but we wanted to enjoy it, and we did.”
The sisters went through the build-up races under the radar but Tamika knew that they had the ability when the race came about.
“We know that paddling isn’t our strongest point and the pre-races didn’t have a lot of running so we weren’t too worried.
“Winning the race was the focus and to have done that is really special considering it’s my tenth and Yankee’s fifth,” Tamika said on the eve of her surprise batchelorette party.
Cana Peek and Christie Mackenzie put in a solid day despite a swim at the bottom of Island rapid and held on to second place.
A third strong day of paddling from Jenna Ward and Kyeta Purchase saw them stroke home to the bottom spot on the podiumdusi Duke Martin Dreyer and his wife Jeannie were the strongest mixed doubles pair over the three days. | Gameplan Media