Race Name:                                    EERSTE RIVER CANOE RACE

Date:                                            24th Saturday, September 2011

Start Time:                                    10h00 (Time-trial start according to CSA rankings-fastest first)

Start Venue:                                  Hungbrug near Lanzerac in Stellenbosch

Registration times:                           08h30-09h30

Prize giving venue & time:                 Stellenbosch (across from Paul Roos HS)

Race distance:                                12km

K1/ K2 / K3/ K4:                              K1

Race Classification:                          AR 

Organizing Club                                Maties Canoe Club

Contact:                                        Mike Owen  072 210 8604

See map on www.stbriverfest.blogspot.com 

Students and Stellenbosch residents can look forward to some great Eerste River fun on 24 September when an official Interkoshuis and Corporate Tube Race will take place as part of the first-ever Stellenbosch River Festival.

Host of the event, the US Canoe Club, has come up with the idea as part of their annual canoe race on the Eerste River. While the canoe race will be from Hangbrug to Spier Estate over a distance of 14 km the tube race will be from Hangbrug to Piet Retief Bridge over a distance of 3 km only. Fierce competition is expected in the Interkoshuis event while prizes will be awarded to corporate teams for best corporate image, spirit and originality. The prize giving ceremony will be at the Piet Retief Bridge site.

The organizers, however, want to make sure that the major part of the income generated by the festival is channeled back into the society via charitable projects. Most of the funds therefore will go towards the Adopt-the-River partnership between the Stellenbosch Municipality and the Department of Water Affairs. This partnership is responsible for environmental education and cleaning up the Plankenbrug, Krom and Eerste Rivers. Their main challenge is to remove the evils which threaten our water resources such as lack of adequate basic services for informal settlements on river banks, illegal dumping, alien vegetation and industrial affluent while creating job opportunities for the unemployed. This year alone 50 tons of waste was removed from the Plankenbrug River and 90 jobs created for unemployed people. A smaller part of the funds will go toward the US Canoe Club's developmental paddling project.

The University of Stellenbosch Canoe Club is staging this year’s festival as a pilot project with the view of upgrading it to an international event, which could become a major tourist attraction very much in the same mould as the Sella Canoe Festival in Spain, that draws 300,000 spectators every year.  Turning it into a huge festival eventually will generate an influx of a great number of visitors to Stellenbosch with obvious advantages to the local business fraternity.

This festival is only made possible by guaranteed water release from the Department of Water Affairs through the tunnel systems from Theewaterskloof and Berg River Dams.  For more information the chief race official Mike Owen can be contacted at 072 210 8604 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Entry forms for the Interkoshuis and Corporate Races can be downloaded from the blogspot www.stbriverfest.blogspot.com