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Lance king(3^rd), Pierre-Andre Rabie(1^st), Heinrich Schloms(2^nd)

       (pic by Cape Town Sport Photography)

The W.C.C.U canoe race held on Saturday 3rd July, 2010, the 28 km section of the Berg River between the Lady Loch Bridge (Wellington) and Hermon farm - also the W.C.C.U. K1 Long Distance Championships - was also the last if the one-day races before 'The Big One' - i.e. the 2010 Windhoek Berg River K1 Canoe Marathon. Paddlers who are 'doing the Berg' now have the opportunity to work on their local river knowledge by 'tripping' the various sections of the 4 day ultra-marathon to get a better idea of what they are to encounter and already there are concerns about the mass of water hyacinth in the lower stages (Zoutkloof area) of the race that need to be contended with.

However, this report is about the race of 3rd July, and the results cemented the young Matie paddler, Pierre-Andre' Rabie (in a field of over 80 paddlers) as not only a serious contender for the Windhoek Berg, but also places him well into the top echelons of local canoeing, when he won his 3rd K1 race of the season and was crowned the W.C.C.U. K1 Long Distance river champion for 2010. Winning very well against a quality field - the likes of Lance King (Milnerton), Heinrich Schloms (Paarl), Graeme Solomon (Peninsula), Ernest van Riet (Maties), Alasdair Glass (Pen) and Edgar Boehm (jnr) (Pen), was never going to be easy - before the race that is - yet the young Matie virtually obliterated this quality field to win by almost 2 minutes - to the un-initiated this meant that when he crossed the finish line, not one of his challengers were in sight!

In his own words, he ...'enjoyed and had a very good race'... when after the early bunch of himself, club mate, Matie paddler, Louw van Riet, Graeme Solomon, Lance King and Heindrich Schloms were the first paddlers to reach the first real 'obstacle' of the race - Klei Rapid - which in the low water level, meant that paddlers had to make choices and it was about here that Solomon got into problems with his rudder cables (which eventually forced him to withdraw at Grensplaas), allowing the others to get away. Shaking off van Riet before reaching Grensplaas, Rabie, King and Schloms formed the chevron going past the halfway point, but shortly thereafter, with Rabie taking a right channel, and the others a left channel, Rabie got a lead on them and for the remainder of the race consolidated this by pulling away to win 'out of sight'. This was a serious achievement for Rabie as both King and Schloms are outstanding paddlers who have been focussing on the Berg river season by spending much time paddling the sections in training. But so too has Rabie and his time spent on those hard training sessions on the Vriedenheim Dam outside Stellenbosch, the Berg and the Breede Rivers, paid off handsomely on Saturday.

In the Women's category, Peninsula's Jemma Hofmeyer, as predicted, won, but she was very closely followed home by a rising star - though still a junior - in Milnerton's Marisa Pretorius. Pretorius is one of the several Milnerton juniors who are making waves on the paddling front now, the outcome of a concerted drive by that club a few years ago aimed at youngsters, which like the similar input by the Paarl Canoe Club, is reaping its just rewards. The third senior woman paddler home was Matie Kirsten Penderis - another new-comer to the scene (she was a novice in 2009) and is the daughter of former Springbok paddler, Anthony Penderis (who has made a welcome return to the sport after several years working away from South Africa).

In the Junior divisions, Joseph Williams (Paarl) reversed the outcome of last weeks race, beating home clubmates, Luke Stowman and Michael Farringer (Stowman and Farringer are still U16 paddlers), to underline his recent selection as a Junior National canoe marathon paddler in the S.A. 2010 team that will take part in the World Championships in Spain in September.

Despite the very good results shown on Saturday, especially by the top paddlers and the juniors, the W.C.C.U.perhaps needs to take cognizance of the fact that where this province was unbelievably strong in the Senior Women's category for so many years, this has fallen away dramatically when established stars such as Jean Wilson, Nikki Mocke and Alexa Cole have taken time off for maternity duty, Abbey Miedema has re-located to Canada and Lindi-May Harmse has been focussing on sprinting following her call-up for national canoeing sprints duty overseas. Fortunately, the likes of Bianca Beavitt, Melanie van Niekerk and Marisa Pretorius (all Milnerton) are now blossoming into mature paddlers who will hopefully fill those 'big' shoes, which they have every chance of doing based on their current results.

Another area of concern is that when looking at entries and results, even a brief glance shows that the biggest class of paddlers seems to fall in the Masters and Sub Grandmasters categories - i.e. those paddlers between 50 and 59 years of age. Where are the young bucks these days? Graeme Solomon, now a Sub Veteran (i.e. 35 - 39 years) is continuously a podium finisher in most local races and has recently been awarded his Senior National Colours (for the umpteenth time) to compete in the World's in Spain in September. Granted, Solly is an exceptional canoeist, but he didn't get to the top on talent alone - it has taken masses of hard work in training and dedication to the cause to get himself to the top and then to stay there.

This is not a criticism of the W.C.C.U. at all - after all, they can't force anyone to take up canoeing or to stay in it, but the lack of senior paddlers, i.e. those between the ages of 23 and 34, must be a worry and as it takes much time to get the required skills to compete at the top level, this is not a challenge that is going to be sorted out soon.

Results;

Senior (Open) Men

1. Pierre-Andre' Rabie, Maties - 1 hour 57 minutes 13 seconds.

2. Heindrich Schloms, Paarl - 1:59:04

3. Lance King, Milnerton - 2:00:17

Senior (Open) Women

1. Jemma Hofmeyer, Peninsula - 2:25:32 (35th overall)

2. Marisa Pretorius, Mil - 2:27:03 (37th)

3. Kirsten Penderis, Maties - 2:27:55 (42nd)

Juniors - U18

1. Joseph Williams, Paarl - 2:10:49 (9th)

2. Luke Stowman, Paarl - 2:11:26 (11th) - also 1st U16 paddler.

3. Michael Farringer, Paarl - 2:13:57 (14th) = also 2nd U16 paddler.

U21

1. Pierre-Andre Rabie, Maties - 1:57:13 (1st)

2. Sean Rice, Pen - 2:19:39 (19th)

Sub Veterans

1. Greg van Heerden, Mil - 2:07:49 (7th)

2. Daan du Toit, Mil - 2:14:06 (15th)

3. Tallon Denovan, CTY - 2:23:12 (28th)

Veterans

1. Marius de Waal, OUT - 2:13:46 (13th)

2. Jamii Hamlin, EVP - 2:29:36 (45th)

3. Robyn Henderson, Mil - 2:31:18 (47th)

Sub Masters

1. Rob Hart, Pen - 2:08:40 (8th)

2. Etienne Buys, Paarl - 2:27:33 ( 39th)

3. Lis Hart, Pen - 2:39:38 (61st)

Masters

1. Ian Glass, Pen - 2:19:16 (18th)

2. Daantjie Malan, Maties - 2:27:33 (20th)

3. Petrus Crous, OUT - 2:29:30 (44th)

Sub Grandmasters

1. Shaun Butler, Pen - 2:21:06 (24th)

2. Andre' Rabie, Paarl - 2:22:07 (25th)

3. Adie de Kock, Maties, 2:25:07 (33rd)

Grandmasters

1. Giel van Deventer, Paarl -  2:23:05 (27th)

2. Lionel Eckermans, Mil - 2:23:22 (29th)

3. Mike English, Pen - 2:25:45 (30th)

Great Grandmasters

1. Willem van Riet (snr), Pen - 2:38:59 (60th)

2. Edgar Boehm (snr) 2:58:53 (76th)

Super Grandmasters

1. Jannie Malherbe, OUT - 2:32:13 (50th)

2. Charles Melck, Mil - 2:56 06 (74th)