Bruss brothers win in Ireland
14 September 2003
South African brothers Deon and Sven Bruss won the Jamieson’s Liffey Descent on Saturday, with fellow South African Daryl Bartho and his Irish partner Fergus Cooper finishing second. The famous race, which takes advantage of the annual controlled flooding of the Liffey Valley, is a test of all-round river ability, as it involves rapids, flats and shooting some big weirs over the 20 kilometre course.
The victory for the Bruss siblings follows their emphatic win in the Avon Descent in Australia last month. In that event they won the K2 section by more than 37 minutes, setting a new record for the overall victory margin.
The Brusses took part in both events because of their win in the Hansa Powerade Fish marathon in South Africa last year. The Fish is “twinned” with the Liffey and Avon Descents in a novel arrangement that sees the winners of the events taking part in the reciprocal races.
So far, the “twinning” has underscored the
strength of South African river paddling. In the two years that the reciprocal invitations have been in operation, South African paddlers have won all the races.
Prior to the Brusses’ wins in the Avon and Liffey Descents this year, Martin Dreyer won the Avon race in 2002, and Len Jenkins won the Liffey K1 race last year as well. There is a long list of South Africans that have won the famous Liffey.
In 2001 Colin Simpkins and Nic Oldert won the Liffey, and in the process became the first Veteran crew to win the race outright.
The winner of the Liffey Descent K1 race will be invited to race in the Hansa Powerade Fish on the first weekend in October. He will be part of a powerful international team that will be formally announced by the race organisers on Monday.
Source: Canoeing South Africa
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