Come and recce the race designated as the official 2011 South African River Marathon Championships! There are only 9 days to go until the:

If you still haven’t decided about entering, here’s a little tempter: First Ascent still have a few of some of the sizes of the Quik-Wic Crew Tops available in stock for us to buy.  

We will include these in the Late Entry Fee on a first-come first-served basis (determined by the arrival time of your proof of payment and entry form) if your size is available and if you get your Late Entry in time to be processed so your size can be relayed to First Ascent before Friday 11 June.  First Ascent are not making any promises, though, so nor can we.

Please do remember to add the size of the First Ascent Quik-Wic Crew Tops you want somewhere prominent on the Late Entry Form, as these tops were not intended for Late Entries.

First Ascent Men's Quik-Wic Crew Top

First Ascent Ladies Quik-Wic Crew Top

WCCU Chairman Herbert Conradie reports:    "The Berg was running full on Wednesday morning, with more rain predicted for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday next week. With the Berg River Dam already at 100% full, we are quite certain of a medium to full Berg for the Swartland."    

So even the River Gods are smiling down on another fantastic Swartland Canoe Marathon!! 

2010 Swartland Canoe Marathon Lucky Draw and other prizes

Our race has a reputation for being friendly and is very much a “people’s race”,  with the prizes weighted in favour of the Lucky Draw ones (like the Knysna Racing River Vajda, or a voucher for a set of roof racks from HoldFast) that each and every  paddler has a very real chance of winning.   

The top paddlers do still get their prizes, but with the kind help of our sponsors we ensure that there are a lot more "winners" amongst the rest of the paddlers. For example, in 2008 the person who won the Lucky Draw boat was flattered to be remembered and recognised on the rivers for that alone; he also got a prize as a novice and nobody remembers that he actually finished last!  And of course, there's also the legendary story of John Hayes who lost his a boat and a paddle in a freak accident and then went on to win brand new ones within hours...

From the prizes that the lovely ladies at Quiver have donated, at least one of their fantastic looking CSA approved Beluga kayaking jackets will go to a Lucky Draw winner, and  Orka Paddles , Brian's Kayaks (who fully sponsored the CX Maxi for the 2008 Lucky Draw), First Ascent, The Paddling Centre, Hammer Nutrition, Edward Snell & Co., Evox and Holdfast have all pledged to donate superb prizes.

Each entrant receives one free ticket to the Lucky Draw, and you can boost your chances by buying further tickets at PCC's time-trial on Tuesday 15 June, at Race Registration on Saturday 19 June and then later at the Swartland Shindig itself. At only R50 a pop, the extra tickets are definitely worth dipping into your piggy-bank for!    

The Lucky Draw takes place at the Swartland Shindig at 8 pm and you have to be there to win. 

The Ladies at PCC have also come up with a cunning plan to help raise funds for the renovation of their changing rooms. They have negotiated with the Swartland organisers to raffle places for 5 paddlers to be in the back row of the seeded paddlers' batch when our charismatic PCC Chairman blows the start vuvuzela, with the rest of the field in batches behind them. So for a chance to mix it up with the good and the great, make sure you bring some dosh with you to race registration to buy raffle tickets from the PCC Ladies. You can buy as many tickets as you like at just R20 per ticket. 

The PCC Ladies have decided to repeat the offer on Sunday, so if Day 1 was a bad day at the office and you find yourself scheduled to start in the last batch, you could still win a chance to blast off with the top guns and boost your race performance! So bring that money you normally set aside for the collection on Sundays and support another worthy cause!