Well the Berg has come and gone and Hank defended his title. Ali will tell you that he is an awesome paddler who is so much in control. Until someone can dominate him he will continue to win the Berg. Now on to the race itself.

The time trial had about 46 canoests challenging for spots in the seeded rows for the Wednesday marathon start. Now if anyone is serious about doing well in the Berg it is important to get out to Paarl and take part in this time trial on Tuesday afternoon. The results of the time trial were fairly predictable except for some people asking who this Alasdair guy was who had cruised into 3^rd place!!!! Ali was very chuffed with his result and fired up about the race the next day. I did not go out for the time trial due to work pressures and it definitely cost me a few places on day 1.

Day 1 dawned cold, wet and rainy – a typical Paarl day 1 Berg start. I suppose we have to remind ourselves that it is mid winter. There had been a bit of a water release from the Berg River Dam so it was strange paddling on a medium full river that had relatively clean water. The race started with us paddeling down a cold, wet and cloudless scene. I can say without exception that everyone took strain due to the conditions. Some paddlers were taken off at Grensplaas while others felt flattened by the time they got there – me included. Then around Hermon Bridge we had thunder and lightening just to add to the excitement. With the river at a medium level meant that treeblocks were quite a challenge and this really spread the field out. All felt that the paddle from Hermon to Zonquasdrift was tough and seemed to go on forever. On arrival at Zonquasdrift I paddled under the bridge to takeout.

We then headed up to Zonquasdrift Farm for lunch which was late due to the long day on the water. After a good lunch Ali and I went for a sleep until supper time. I was sleeping  in the barn and Ali in his bakkie. Sleeping in the barns might be a bit rough and ready but it cuts out all the travelling before and after each day. Also with a good sleeping bag and comfortable mattress I can sleep anywhere.

Day 2 dawned with news that the river was “up”. That was enough to cheer up any stiff and tired paddler. After breakfast and juice making we headed down to the river. What a pleasure – the river was now lapping the bridge. Flow had gone from 20 to 60Cumegs and it was all smiles. The start was elapsed time for the first 30 paddlers and batches of 30 after that. Ali started in elapsed time and I was in “A” batch. Ali went off like a steam train hoping to find all the sneaks that would work at this high level. I started slowly and all went well until the big tree block in the Zonquas Forest. Here Giel van Deventer fell out in the block and was sucked under the tree, somehow not destroying his boat. For the record I managed to shoot the tree backwards with help from Pete King. Thankfully Ali got thru the tree without a problem unlike on the Swartland where it cost him big time. The rest of the day was spent testing my memory and taking every shortcut I could to make up lost time. We got to Bridgetown safely with Ali maintaining his 7^th spot and me dropping from 32^nd to 35^th and into second spot in the Masters behind Daantjie Malan.

We had an earlier lunch on this day then headed for our cottage that Fanie had organised for us for our afternoon sleep. After a good sleep we were up to make juice and get our pre cooked supper going. We had a good supper and went to bed so as to get a good sleep before DAY 3. Before sleeping we discussed the next day and decided that it would be quite different to the river we had tripped the weekend before. I did say to Ali that we might catch the flood water on the second half of Day 3.

Day 3 dawned without the usual Bridgetown mist so it was a bit warmer than it usually is. There was a 9:00am mass start and the paddle across the dam was fast but not furious. Ali had a good paddle across the dam and showed his portaging skills by dropping everyone at the wall and putting into the river first. He said afterwards “Dad it was cool to lead the Berg for 200 meters”. Ali was eventually worked off the front bunch and spent the day paddling with Pierre Andre Rabie – which he really enjoyed. As suspected we caught the flood on the second half of the day so the section from Tuindrif to Zoutkloof took longer than calculated – for us about 15mins longer. We had a good bunch going that rotated well except for a guy called Gerrit who insisted on doing more pulls than the rest of us. I have booked him for our bunch next year Day 3!!!!! The Clay Banks on the last RH bend were a most welcome sight and all were very pleased to get to Zoutkloof. Ali had held onto his 7^th spot and myself holding my 35^th postion (and still second master)

After another late lunch we went for our customery afternoon sleep and were up for a couple of sponsored Windhoek Lagers before we started to get our supper going. As there are no cottages at Zoutkloof it was back to the barn for me and Ali again slept in his bakkie. I warned him that this place was always VERY COLD at night and this night was no exception. When Paul Lange arrived back at Zoutkloof for the start of Day 4 he said his cars thermometer was reading 1deg C above. It actually felt like 10 below!!! The biggest challenge was to keep warm – leave your warm jacket on for as long as possible and somehow get your frozen hands working before the race starts. Ali had left a bit of juice in his drinking pipe and that was frozen solid. There was also ice on the hauls of our boats. We felt very sorry for the slow paddlers going off at 7:30 which was even before the sun was up. We had a mass start at 8:30 and there was a great charge to the Berg River Pump Station, about an hours paddle down river to the portage around the Water Hyacinth block. Then it was full steam ahead for Velddrift except for Giel who tried the shortcut before Kersiefontein Bridge. It was a good gamble that did not pay off so it cost Giel lots of time. Maybe next year………  The paddle to the finish went well with all of us enjoying the short portage at Oordraplek and the good bunch we were in. The paddle was also make very sociable as you were passing the slower paddlers all the way down. There was special encouragement for Mark Torrington with him shouting to Daantjie that he had to let Glass go ahead and allow him to win Masters!! We caught the outgoing tide on our way into Velddrift so that made the last bit a pleasure. The weather also played ball with clear skies and a light wind all day. Ali held his 7^th overall which was a fantastic result for his first attempt of the race. He’s already talking about next year!!!! I moved up one place to 34^th and was still second Master (despite the instructions to Daantjie from Mark Torries) – next year as well!!!!

It was a good race and the new sponsor Windhoek did a good job and they can be proud of a job well done. I’m glad they are on board for next year as well. Velddrift also were out in full force for the finish so the “Berg” is still quite something for them. So next year for the 50^th Berg I’m sure that there will be an even bigger crowd at the finish. After having won this year I’m sure Hank McGregor will be back next year to defend his title and set some records. He’s going to have to watch Ali carefully though, as he’s gaining experience fast and he’s already on the pace as he showed by coming third the Pre-Berg Time Trial and having been up to 5^th overall on Day 1.

See you at the “Berg” next year when I do my 20^th one. All the best for the Doubles Season, the Breede and the Fish.

Ian Glass.