20 January 2003

Nuggety Capetonian Martin Dreyer completed a landslide victory in the Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe marathon, romping home more than sixteen minutes ahead of Len Jenkins to claim his fourth Dusi title in five years.

Despite his claims that he would paddle the final stage conservatively, Dreyer actually took a further minute out of the chasing group of Jenkins and Theron, with the combination of a blisteringly fast run over the Burma Road portage, and power-paddling on the flatwater into the final at Blue Lagoon in Durban.

The 34-year-old sub-veteran described his fourth win as a huge relief. "It just keeps getting better and better", he said of his emotions on arriving at the finish to the ovation of the crowd. His joy was compounded by having his father at the finish to greet him, the first time that his father has watched his son paddle the Dusi.

Dreyer’s magical day was rounded off when his very close friend Abbey Miedema came flying home in a new record time to win the women's K1 title by an unthinkable margin of 24 minutes over Alexa Lombard, also from the Western Cape.

Battle for second
The real drama of the day, however, belonged to the cat-and-mouse race for second place. Len Jenkins, carrying his painful ankle injury, paddled neck-and-neck with Gauteng star Jacques Theron.

When it became clear that Jenkins was going to paddle around, instead of opt for the gruelling Burma Road portage, Theron took to the steep hill with all the energy he could muster.

On the river, Jenkins realised that this would be his last chance to get a lead on Theron, and bravely shot the treacherous Island rapid, and both Pumphouse weirs, which set up a two minute lead going into the final portage down Siripat road.

"As I got to the bottom of Burma Road, I saw Len go past me", Theron said. "He was still in sight when he shot both weirs, but I was finished. The run took it all out of me, and I had nothing left. I tried to chase him down, but I was exhausted by the run."

Jenkins had to run the new 3km portage down a straight tar road without allowing Theron back into the race. "It was agony", Jenkins said. "Every step was excruciating, but I realised that I had to keep going".

His brave tactics on the river, and running through the pain on the portage, produced a three minute margin over Theron at the finish, with a surging Jason Graham wrapping up a brilliant fourth place.

Burma Road
Scott Maynard made a disastrous mistake on the Burma Road portage, taking the wrong path through the thick bush and allowing both Hank McGregor and a flying Deon Bruss to pass him on the river. Brothers Shaun and Jonathan Biggs diced it out for the 8th and 9th positions, with Jonathan Biggs wrapping up the junior title in the process.

The women's race victory for Abbey Miedema may have been overshadowed by Dreyer's emphatic win, but her race record-shattering efforts did not go unnoticed. After setting a new record for the first stage in brutal heat on Friday, she finally returned a racetime a massive six minutes faster than Antje Manfroni's victory time in 1991.

RESULTS

Men

	Reigning Dusi champion Martin Dreyer with Loveday Zondi. Dreyer won't be defending his title in 2005, but will be teaming up with former Comrades Marathon king Bruce Fordyce to raise money for charity. Zondi is aiming to become the first black paddler to finish in the top 10 (Photo: Canoeing South Africa)

	Canoeing SA  Hansa Powerade Dusi Marathon