The WCCU canoe race scheduled for this weekend and on Saturday 28^th August is the 38 km section of the Breede River that flow between Drew Bridge and Swellendam (Die Stroom) and is also the final one day K2 race of the season, the annual Breede River K2 Marathon being run on Saturday/Sunday 4^th and 5^th September – i.e. neeeext weekend.

With the rains of the past few days and more scheduled for later this week, paddlers will be pleased to get back onto this most paddle-able of rivers and a beautiful one at that, two previous Breede River one day races having been moved to other venues (Berg River) because of a lack of water, so it has been with a huge sigh of relief that all are heading for the Breede River valley again.

It also signals a return to the river after last weekends Bamboo Warehouse K2 event of the top two K2 teams in the country – Ant Stott (KZN) and Graeme Solomon (Peninsula CC) and Ernest van Riet (Maties) and Heinrich Schloms (Paarl), crews who will be team mates in the South African Senior Canoe Team that travels to the World Canoe Marathon Championships in Spain to race there for the World K2 Marathon Championship on Sunday 26^th September. In last weeks race, these two crews left all other competitors gasping after well less than half of the 30 km race had unfolded and when van Riet/Schloms made an uncharacteristic mistake and ran out of water on a supposed ‘safe’ channel on about the 18^th km, Stott and Solomon fired the afterburners to take out more than 5 minutes on their rivals, to cross the line with the other crew hardly in sight.

Other crews to watch and who will be giving their all will be that of Pierre-Andre Rabie (Maties) and Patrick Birkett (Peninsula) – Rabie now almost recovered from a nasty bout of flu and the powerful and canny Paul Marais/Alasdair Glass (both Peninsula) crew – Marais having been a previous multiple winner if the Breede River Marathon..

Of the ladies – not a lot is known and unless the SA K2 crew of Lindi-May Harmsen (Mil) and Abie Adi (KZN) make another appearance before the Breede Marathon, it is more than likely that last weekends winning women’s crew of Jackie Barnes/Jemma Hofmeyer (UCT/Pen) will again dominate.

The challenge is also out for the mixed doubles, Megan Kelly having partner two different male paddlers (Edgar Boehm jnr and Henri van der Merwe) to the wining position in this ‘hot’ class – who will she have chosen for this weekend to help keep at bay crews such as Rob Hart/Romy Findlay (Pen/Pen) and Ian Trautmann/Natascha Bracale (Pen/Pen)?!

The is a challenging section of river with the famous non-waterfall known as the ‘Waterfall Rapid’ being serious enough to generally make the pool below it look like a swimming gala – the many twists and turns, Palmiet-lined channels, several smaller rapids, long flat sections of water being ideal for slip-riding – the Swellendam Weir – where to shoot it – right or middle chute (the suggestion is the middle one) and the 2 km long fun, rollercoaster-like rapids about 3 kms from the end meaning that anyone who does this race will have an ‘honest’ paddle.