Dusi set for super K2 race
Brad Morgan
15 January 2008
Over 2 000 paddlers will take to the water at Natal Canoe Club at Camps Drift in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday for the Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon, this year a K2 event. The three-day race finishes at the Blue Lagoon in Durban on Saturday.
The Dusi is an exhausting test of paddling skills and running ability while carrying a canoe which, along with the humidity the competitors must deal with in the valleys en route to Durban, makes for a tough physical and mental challenge.
That mix has in the past meant that international paddlers have shied away from the event, but the 2008 race has drawn entries from 15 countries, including one from as far away as Alaska in the far north of the USA.
Exposure overseas
The race is set to receive its greatest exposure yet overseas; apart from coverage in print and on the Internet, a 90-minute package will be flighted in the UK two weeks after the race, while
Australian television will also carry a highlights programme.
Further coverage will be available locally through a new innovation: Hansa Powerade Dusi Radio. Broadcasting on FM 100.5, it will be restricted to the areas covered by the paddlers each day and update listeners on all the race information.
"Tourism KZN are sub sponsors and staunch supporters of the Dusi," said Ray de Vries, spokesman for the event.
"We have been working closely with TKZN and have plans going forward for marketing the event globally. We are very excited at growing this segment of entry.
Ready
"In the 14 years that I have been promoting this race, I can say that I haven't seen a Dusi so ready to welcome the 2 000 paddlers and their 3 600 seconders and supporters expected for the three-day visit to KZN.
"It is now a case for us, as organisers, to expect the unexpected – the Dusi always spits out a surprise or two, but we are ready for that. All
systems are in place," he added.
The paddlers will be backed up by nearly 1 000 volunteers, 40 SA Police Service bikers, 300 peace monitors drawn from the local communities, Navy divers, the Pietermaritzburg Fire Department, almost a dozen race helicopters, 100-plus Netcare 911 medical staff, a field hospital, and 50 000 spectators along the route.
Economic boost
De Vries reckons the Hansa Powerade Dusi, as one of the largest canoe marathons in the world, attracts over R30 million to the KwaZulu-Natal economy.
A healthy summer rainfall has filled dams and the river system to capacity, and Umgeni Water has agreed to generous water releases which should make for a great race. Umgeni Water is monitoring the water daily and says the quality is good throughout the rivers.
While there has been consistent and frequent rain in KZN, the temperatures and humidity on days on which it hasn't fallen have been extreme, wringing energy out of
people like a sponge being wrung out; rain-free says are sure to push the contestants to their limits.
Title challengers
The men's race looks set to be a humdinger, with three crews favoured to challenge for the title: last year's K1 winner Ant Stott and Wayne Thompson, who placed second in 2006 during the last K2 event; Sven Bruss and Hank McGregor, who are in great shape; and Martin Dreyer and Michael Mbanjwa, the winners of the 2007 Stihl Non-Stop Dusi in a record time.
McGregor and Dreyer teamed up to win the 2006 K2 event, but this time around they'll be facing one another. Both have excellent records in the Dusi, with McGregor winning it twice and Dreyer, known as the "Dusi Duke", winning it six times.
The ladies' race has a clear and prohibitive favourite in the team of Abbey Miedema and Alexa Lombard.
Miedema has dominated the event in the past two years, winning the K1 race in 2007 by 33 minutes over second-placed Laura
Thompson, and taking victory in the K2 race with Lombard in 2006, as the pair took 25 minutes off the previous record.
Charities
Charities have once again been benefiting from the Dusi; the race supports the SPCA, Starfish, and the Duzi-Umgeni Conservancy Trust and has so far raised R321 000.
One of the most successful methods of fund-raising has been the Charity Auction Batch which allows paddlers to bid online at www.dusi.co.za for an early start in a group of 60 competitors.
With very hot weather expected, the auction is popular and the biggest bid so far received is a huge R20 500.
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