7 July 2003

An ecstatic Jacques Theron claimed his second successive win in the Land Rover Berg River Canoe marathon on Saturday, and said his great form was a platform for the second half of the year, in which he wants to realise another lifetime goal and win the Dusi.

“I am paddling better now than any stage in my career”, said Theron, who lives in Johannesburg after having grown up in Paarl on the banks of the Berg river. “Even though the conditions were really tough because of the low river, I actually felt better during this year’s race than I did last year”, he said.

“Now that I have the Berg behind me, I can plan the rest of the year. I desperately want to win the Dusi, which is a K2 race in January, so I will have to start my running training now”, said Theron, who finished third in the 2002 Hansa Powerade K1 Dusi. He added that he had not made any commitments to a partner for the 2003 Dusi yet.

Theron pin-pointed two key turning points in the battle for the Berg title. “The break at the end of the second day, when I managed to get a small gap after a tree block, and then put the hammer down to get away from Graeme Solomon, who has been leading all day, was vital. Then the last hour or so of the third day, when I was able to get clear by ten minutes, was decisive”, he said.

He went on to win by 12 minutes, after a thrilling duel with Solomon across the shallow sandbanks that eventually broke the resolve of the heavier Solomon, on the lowest river ever in the history of this famous race.

Theron started the final day with a ten-minute cushion over Solomon, and stretched his lead on the final stage to Velddrift, made up of elapsed time and time trial sections, with Gert van Deventer picking up the last place on the podium, a further 16 minutes back.

He found an ally in Pietermaritzburg paddler Len Jenkins, who helped him substantially by “pulling” him on his wave on the first and third days, before Jenkins blew on both occasions, and Theron was able to continue on his own. “I underestimated how much Len would help me”, said Theron of his friend and K2 paddling partner Jenkins.

Alexa Lombard proved why she is regarded as the Berg Queen with a relentless performance that gave her a hat-trick of victories in the 230km race. She was never outside the top 30 overall, and eventually finished a full 15 minutes ahead of determined challenger Abbey Miedema. Kim Rew was the third woman home, with Jean Wilson, making a welcome return to competitive racing, in fourth. Jonathan Schoeman took the juniors honours.

The surprise gold medallist in the race was Dusi champion Martin Dreyer. The rugged Capetonian, who has been concentrating on his cycling and adventure racing this year, could not resist the challenge of the tough conditions, and entered at the 11th hour. He had an entry into a mountain bike event in Knysna on the Saturday that the Berg was due to finish in Velddrift, but after initially indicating that he would paddle the first day or two, he was lured into the rest of the race by the harsh conditions, and the lure of a gold medal for a top ten finish. He gradually worked his way through the field to finish sixth.

The brutally tough conditions caused by the drought gripping the Western Cape made the race extremely hard, especially for the backmarkers, for whom it was a daily challenge to simply make the cut off times on each stage. Small channels channels that often ran out into sandbanks, often forced the paddlers to jump out of their kayaks and carry them over soft sandbars to deeper water.

RESULTS

	Dreyer, Miedema take Dusi 2003 Stott, Bruss take Umkomaas 2003 Canoeing, rafting & kayaking in SA

	Canoeing South Africa