23 January 2006

Hank McGregor and Martin Dreyer won the Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon in a titanic struggle with Ant Stott and Wayne Thompson over the weekend, after the race was decided by an incident in a major rapid on the final leg from Inanda Dam to Durban.

The two crews were neck-and-neck halfway through the final stage when Stott and Thompson opted to stay in the river and paddle around Burma Road, while Dreyer and McGregor opted for the arduous portage over Burma Road.

Stott and Thompson looked to be holding their own on the paddle, on a medium/full level Umgeni River, when an accident shooting the nasty Island One Rapid smashed their canoe and ended their challenge.

Sixth win for Dreyer
McGregor and Dreyer seized the opportunity to race away to a record-breaking victory, taking four minutes off the overall race record. It was a sixth win for Dreyer, and McGregor's second following his singles win last year.

There was another milestone for Dreyer, who earned his Dusi permanent green number by finishing his tenth marathon.

Despite badly damaging their kayak, Stott and Thompson gamely struggled onto the finish, portaging around every major rapid, and still managed to hang onto their second place.

Third place went to the consistent Gauteng crew of Graham Bird and Stu Rawlinson, with under-21 stars Craig Turton and Simon van Gysen consolidating an excellent outing with an overall fourth, breaking the under-21 race record in the process.

Bad luck
Bad luck continued to plague the top crew of Shaun Biggs and Loveday Zondi. They bounced back well on the second stage after being dogged by rudder failure on the first leg. However, as they charged for a podium place on the final stage, Biggs broke his paddle in Island Rapid.

To make matters worse, as they battled to maintain control of the teetering craft in the dangerous rapid, Zondi lost his paddle as well. "We paddled for about 10 kilometres with only half a paddle until Craig Turton and Simon van Gysen's seconds kindly lent us a paddle to finish the race," said Biggs.

Women's favourites Alexa Lombard and Abbey Miedema had the luxury of being able to minimise their risks on the final stage. "It was only once we were through Mango Rapid that we knew the race was ours," said Miedema. "We just got better and better as the race progressed."

Record-shattering performance
Lombard and Miedema also broke the overall race record, shaving a massive 25 minutes off the mark set by Lombard and Donia Kamstra two years ago.

Disaster ended the challenge of the game crew of Carol Joyce and Laura Thompson, the sister of men's runner-up Wayne Thompson, when they damaged their kayak in the big rapids below Inanda Dam. "The swim left us with split seams all the way along our boat, so we had to portage all the rapids after that," said Thompson.

The classy junior duo of Michaelhouse star Stephen Bird and his Maritzburg College team mate Cam Schoeman completed a thoroughly impressive race with an eighth place finish overall, and dismantled the old race record by 38 minutes.

Kelly Howe and Vicky Chiazzari took the junior girls title in a tight tussle with Abie Adie and Robyn Kime.

Last gold medal
Mike Stewart and Brandon Collyer wrapped up the sub-vets title with an eleventh place finish, losing a sprint to the line for the last gold medal to youngsters Brett Bartho and Clint Pretorius.

Ant Rowan and Warren Valentine took the sub-Masters title, while the evergreen "Dusi King" Graeme Pope-Ellis and his Johannesburg partner Dave Rawlinson finished a staggering thirtieth overall.

The first stage leaders, Len Jenkins and Michael Mbanjwa, earned the respect of the race's followers by opting to finish the final stage, shelving their despondency at seeing their chances at winning the title sink into the murky water of Ibis Point Rapid on the second day.

'It was the right thing to do'
"I was so despondent after wrapping our boat. After we finished the second stage, I wasn't keen to paddle the final day," said Jenkins. "We were standing at the dam wall, watching the guys, when we decided that it was the right thing to do to get back into our boat and finish the race."

Jenkins and Mbanjwa had been paddling the race as a tribute to pioneering Dusi paddler Robert Lembethe, who passed away recently.

While the leaders were streaking towards Durban, a real life drama was unfolding in Tops Needle Rapid, the first major rapid below Inanda Dam. 32-year-old Johannesburg paddler Tim White and his partner fell out of their kayak while trying to negotiate the full length of the rapid, and White became pinned against a rock and struggled to keep his head above water.

Wedged
Fellow paddlers Richard Wiggett and Andrew Nicholson immediately came to his aid, as did several nearby spectators and seconds. However, after several minutes, it was clear that he had become completely wedged against the rocks.

Eventually the race safety officials arranged for the water release from Inanda Dam to be shut off, and it was only after the Fire Brigade used a mechanical jack hammer to break away the rock trapping White, that he was extricated and then airlifted to hospital, where he is recovering.

Another paddler who elected to brave the big rapids around Burma Road had to be evacuated to hospital after breaking his leg after capsizing in one of the rapids.

RESULTS

Men

5. Sue Chapman/Debbie Lewis 9:40:13

	Alexa Lombard and Abbey Miedema are all smiles after smashing the Dusi record by a massive 25 minutes (Photo: Canoeing South Africa)

	Dreyer, Miedema take Dusi 2003 Stott, Dreyer rule Dusi 2004 Records galore at Dusi 2006 Canoeing pioneer Lembethe dies McGregor, Miedema take Dusi 2005 10 years: a canoeing success Canoeing, rafting & kayaking in SA Three world-class canoe marathons

	Dusi Canoe Marathon  Canoeing South Africa