17 February 2003

Ant Stott and Deon Bruss mastered a full and ferocious Umkomaas River to successfully defend their Clover Umkomaas Canoe marathon title on the weekend, despite a scare halfway through the first stage.

After two days and 80 kilometres, they crossed the finish line five-and-a-half minutes ahead of the Gauteng crew of Graham Bird and Piers Cruikshanks, with 2001 winners Shaun Biggs and Sven Bruss a further minute back.

Stott and Bruss had nosed into the lead after shooting the tricky Number Five and Six rapids, before running into an unexpected problem above Number Seven rapid.

“In the middle of nowhere we ran into a huge 'hole' in the river” said Stott afterwards. “We were stopped dead by the wave, and were held there, surfing in the hole. We had enough time to discuss the problem, and work out a plan to fight our way out of the hole”, he added.

Damaged rudder
By the time the pair had paddled out of danger, they were forced to head for the bank and repair their damaged rudder, allowing the chasing pack boats to catch up.

Stott and Bruss stayed in contention, and once they had emerged from the tricky Umkomaas Gorge they made a break, and paddled away to a four-minute lead at the overnight stop at Josephine's bridge.

Bird and Cruikshanks lost contact with the chasing pack after opting for two shallow sneak channels around Number Eight rapid, but managed to recover right at the end of the first stage when they caught Shaun Biggs and Sven Bruss, as well as the Veteran crew of Alick Rennie and Mark Jamieson.

Less fortunate were the fancied crew of Len Jenkins and Jacques Theron, who ended their title challenge in a bad swim at Number Five and Six rapids, badly damaging the back deck of their boat in the process. Daryl Bartho and Jason Graham also swam at the dangerous rapid, but were fortunate not to damage their equipment, and finished fifth at the overnight stop.

Heavy rains
Heavy overnight rains upstream raised the river level half-a-metre for the second stage, which saw Stott and Bruss make no mistakes, and finish with a five-and-a-half minute margin over Piers Cruikshanks and Graham Bird, who now has five second-place finishes in his ten attempts at the Umkomaas Marathon.

“Late in the second stage it was obvious that we weren’t going to be able to catch Ant (Stott) and Deon (Bruss), who were going really well. We caught up to one of our clubmates, who had started with the backmarkers ahead of the leaders, who start on elapsed time at the back of the field on the second day. Their K2 had been caught in a bad backwash, and we stopped to help them get their boat out", said Bird.

Daryl Bartho and Warren Jacobs posted the second-fastest time on the second stage to move up to fourth overall, ahead of Alick Rennie and Mark Jamieson, with Oscar Chalupsky and his American partner, Olympic gold medallist Greg Barton, in sixth, paddling in a stable but slow Accord kayak.

Mixed doubles
The mixed doubles race proved to be one of the highlights of a race that had been billed “an epic” due to the fantastic level of the river. Mark Perrow and Alice Rawlinson, who took a swim at the notorious Number One rapid, won the mixed doubles title after a ding-dong battle with Beetle Bailey and Antje Manfroni, and Robbie Herreveld and Amanda Marais.

RESULTS SUMMARY

	The Bruss brothers enjoyed a successful Umkomaas Marathon; Deon finished first with Ant Stott, while Sven finished third with Shaun Biggs.

	Dreyer, Miedema take Dusi 2003

	Canoeing SA