The K1 (single)W.C.C.U. Canoe Marathon Championships were held on the Misverstand Dam (Berg River) and at the Elani Resort on Saturday 8th May, 2010. The weather conditions were perfect, with just the slightest of winds and this is seen in the good times recorded by all paddlers.

The discipline of canoe marathon is very different from what is the more common canoe racing format - i.e. upon rivers - and to fit in with the format to be used for both the SA and World Canoe Marathon Championships still to be held in 2010, paddlers were presented with a course with laps of 4.3 km. plus a 200 m portage where paddlers come ashore, carry or drag their canoes over the land course, before re-entering the water to start the next lap

K1 marathon paddlers arriving at the portage, Misverstand Dam, Berg River 

To enhance spectator appeal, the portage was set up on the banks of the dam where spectators were gathered and this move proved to be very popular (with

spectators) as it is most often during portages that places are made up or lost - depending upon how slick a paddler is with the skill of getting out of and into their canoes, plus what it takes out on ones legs after paddling a lap of over 4 kms. before, where it has all been upper body work.

The Senior men's race proved to be a very exciting one, where a large bunch of some 8 paddlers stuck together all the way to the 1st of the 6 portages, where, as predicted, the breakaway came with Lance King (Milnerton) Pierre-Andre Rabie (Maties), Graeme Solomon (Peninsula), Heinrich Schloms (Paarl), Ernest van Riet (Maties) and Alasdair Glass (Peninsula) all making the best of the opportunity to 'run away' from the rest of the group.

Junior medal winners - WCCU K1 canoe marathon championships, 2010 @ Misverstand Dam, Berg River 

Then followed another 6 laps where King, Rabie and Solomon were content to paddle as a group of three after dropping the others and until the final potage and lap. Here, at the portage, King, who had been trailing at the penultimate portage, made his break to exit the water first and by sprinting over it, was first back in the water to paddle the final lap on his own, Rabie and Solomon, racing together in pursuit, but failing to reel him in.

King won the event comfortably by almost 30 seconds in 3 hours 45 minutes 3 seconds, whilst Rabie out sprinted Solomon to the line to record a 3:28:14 paddle, Solomon just off his slip for 3:28:17. This was an exceptional paddle for Solomon, who is eligible to race in the Master's class of Sub Veterans (i.e. 35 - 39 years).

The Senior women's event was disappointing w.r.t. the number of entries, but notwithstanding this, Robyn Kime (Maties) and Bianca Beavitt (Milnerton) raced with one another throughout the race with Kime out sprinting Beavitt to the line in 3:30:44, Beavitt one second behind, recording a 3:30:45. The 3rd placed senior woman was Megan Kelly (Peninsula).

Robyn Kime (Maties) wins the Women's senior canoe marathon by nose from Milnerton's Bianca Beavitt 

Overall, the number of paddlers racing at this event was disappointing, but those paddlers who did race, gave of their best and there were many outstanding performances. In particular, the turnout of Junior paddlers was very encouraging given that the strength in any sport tends to come from the 'bottom-up' and so these paddlers and their various coaches (in particular, Wayne August of the Paarl Canoe Club) are to be congratulated for their tenacity and competitive spirit that made for some very closely contested races.