Sundays race began in perfect weather conditions (clear skies and no wind) and whilst the river had dropped by about 60 cm since Saturfday, it was still fast flowing and inundated all of the major obtacles on the race – e.g., the Sliding Weir, the Bollard Bridge, Secunda Weir, the Bonnivale Low Level bridge and the Bonnivale Drift, to the extent, that every obstacle could be comfortably shot in a racing canoe  – even if it meant that the front paddler of the K2’s was in for a splashing!

And so, it was a tremendously excting race for all as with the high levels and fast flow, there was action pretty much the whole way.

With the start upstream of the McGregor (High level) Bridge, spectators thrilled to the sight of 90 canoes spped off when sgtarter, Richard Kohler fired the starting pistol and it wasn’t long before the front group had sorted itself out into a small chevron of 3 canoes – the White/Solomon (Pen) crew, van Riet/Schloms (US/Prl) and Cole/Farrell (Pen). The previous days winner and the recent W.C.C.U. 10 Km K2 sprint champions, P-W Basson/Lance King, opting not to race this section of the river.

Interestingly and predicted in the preview to this event, the senior women’s crew of Alexa Cole/Jackie Barnes (Pen/UCT) had enegtered (this section  also constitutes the 1^st day of the forthcoming Breede River Marathon in 2 weeks time) and completely dominatated (again as predicted) to come in an excellent 11^th position overall.

The race was not without its drama – no canoe races ever are – however, most of the dramas were as a result of paddlers not adhering to (or listening to) the pre-race safety briefing, when safety officials gave recommendations as to where to shoot certain obstacles. For example, paddlers were told that going right at the Sliding Weir was considered dangerous and should not be attempted and going left at the Bonnivale low-level bridge was forbidden – but some paddlers, for whatever reasons, chose to disregard these warnings and put themselves (and anyone who might have had to have tried to rescue them) at risk. Quite frankly, disregarding compulsory safety issues oin a river race should lead to the immediate suspension of such paddlers – for their own sakes – until they can convince WCCU that they have come to their senses.

Saftey issues for race organizers are a nightmare  as only some (small) sections of any race can be covered by safety officials and even then, as in the Bonnivale low-level bridge, because the river is so wide there, it was deemed that it should only be shot on the extreme right or in the middle.

Notwithstanding these crazies who decided not to follow race rules, all paddlers arrived at Riggton Farm, Bonnivale, safely in good spirits and it was an exciting end-sprint the decided the eventual winners, when White/Solomon outsprinted van Riet/Schloms to the line,  Cole/Farrell 30 seconds off the pace.

Of concern to WCCU though, should be about the dearth of senior paddlers, as can be seen in the Top Ten finishers of this race when Sub Veterans, Veterans and even Sub Grandmasters featured, and, taking nothing away from the xcellent race that they had, the first women home were in 11^th postion overall, 9 minutes behind the winners!

Results

Top Ten

1. Gavin White/Graeme Solomon (Pen) 2 hours 03 minutes 16 seconds

2. Ernest van Riet/Heinrich Schloms (US/Prl) 2:03:17

3. Peter Cole/Steve Farrell (Pen) 2:03:33

4. Rory Cole/Henri van der Merwe (Pen) 2:07:31                  1st Sub Veterans

5. Cornelius Human/Richard Fly (Out/US) 2:07:33

6. Chris de Waal/Frohann Visser (Mil/SSW) 2:07:42             2ndSub Veterans

7. James Birkett/Alasdair Glass (UCT/Pen) 2:11:07              1^st U23’s

8. Rob MacLean/Andre Rabie (Pen/Prl) 2:11:49                    1^st Sub Grandmasters

9. Garth Watters/Rob Hart (Pen) 2:11:53                              1^st Veterans

10. Charlie Heatlie/Kevin Hill (Prl) 2:11:57