The Canon Robertson to Bonnivale Breede River K2 canoe race held on Saturday 23rd August, turned into a real-humdinger of an event that went right down to the wire as the top crews battled it out to end in a final sprint for the line 38 km later, at Riggton Farm, Bonnivale.

The 226 paddlers who lined up at the McGregor Bridge, Robertson, were there to paddle the section that comprises the 1st day of the forthcoming Canon Breede River K2 canoe marathon and S.A. Championships on 6th and 7th September and were treated to a medium-low level river, a strong tail wind, by virtue if the N.W. storm that was pounding the Peninsula (but had not yet crossed the high peaks that protect the Breede River Valley from the coastal plain) and high levels of competition as the Breede season draws to a close.

Several new crews came to the fore to challenge for top spots and a number of out-of-province paddlers made their appearances from the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal, putting pressure on local canoeists.

At the start, the favourites, Graeme Solomon and Lance King (Pen/Mil), looked out of sorts and in the words of Solomon,..."were caught napping and were unable to warm-up properly", finding themselves in the strange (for them) situation of having to chase the front bunch of some 8 canoes for the better part of 5 kilometres before they could settle down in that bunch and start to try and dominate it. By 'Kekkel 'n Kraai', a low level bridge/drift about 7 km out from the start, the leading bunch of 4, Solomon/King, Ernest van Riet/Heinrich Schloms (U.S.), Paul Marais/Greg Barnard (Pen) and Pierre-Andre-Rabie/Patrick Birkett (US/Pen) had managed to shake off Peter Cole/Steve Farrell (Pen), who were having problems with the seats in their craft, Greg and Matthew van Heerden (Mil/US) and Pieter-Willem Basson/Mynhardt Marais (Prl) and the race was on to the Goudmyn Sliding weir. At this obstacle, Solomon/King opted to go left whilst van Riet/Schloms and Marais/Barnard went right and van Riet/Schloms managed to make the breakaway that they needed. They were first to the low-level, bollarded bridge 1 km on, where they had an excellent portage versus Solomon/King, when Solomon, in the frantic portage at this obstacle, ran into the back of a hoisted boat in front of him causing him to loose his grip on his canoe and drop it. This saw van Riet/Schloms get away ahead of Marais/Barnard and Solomon/King, but a problem with Schloms' foot rest meant that he wasn't able to to give full power to his stroke and so by the Secunda weir,  2 kilometres on and by chasing furiously, the other two craft had made up the distance and it was back to a neck and neck, 3 boat race. And so it continued to the Low level bridge, 4 km out from the end, which, as predicted in the preview of this race, could be 'shot' under the bridge before heading to the next obstacle, the causeway just below The Eagle's Eye on approaches to Bonnivale and approximately 1.5 km from the chequered flag. Here Solomon fell on the causeway, when he stepped into a pothole, to again allow Marais/Barnard and van Riet/Schloms to get away. Tracking them down in the pleasant grade 2 rapid that flows away from the causeway, Solomon/King gave chase, re-established themselves and then began the kick for home which ended with them taking the flag, Marais/Barnard on their slip but with the broken foot rest in the Matie boat eventually proving too much to overcome, and so they limped in approx. 30 seconds later.

In the ladies event, the much anticipated showing again of the crew of Alexa Cole/Donia Kamstra (Pen), did not happen as Kamstra decided to opt out, her having been struggling with flu this past week. But the unheralded entry by Lindi-May Harmsen and Abie Adie (Mil/KZN), who will be one of the two South African ladies crews contesting the World Canoe Marathon Championships in the Czech Republic next month, saw them race to an excellent first place (ladies) and 16th overall in 112.62% of the winning time of Solomon/King - i.e. an outstanding performance. Unhappily, the hot new ladies crew on the circuit of Tarryn Brown and Vicki Hind (Pen), were forced to pull out of the race about 8 km after the start, Brown succumbing to the flu that she has been battling since last weekends event. This opened up the way for Jemma Hofmeyer/Angie Gafney (Pen) to take 2nd place, followed by Helene Rabie and Wiebka Dunaiske (Prl/US) a minute and a half later.

Unfortunately, the top men's and ladies crew of Saturdays race, Graeme Solomon/Lance King and Lindi-May Harmsen/Abie Adie, will not be contesting the Canon Breede River K2 Marathon in early September under orders from Canoe South Africa, as both crews will be competing at the World Championships 2 weeks later - nevertheless, these two crews gave spectators and fellow competitors some exciting racing which they will no doubt continue with at next Saturdays final one day race of the Breede  K2 season.

In the U 21 section, Dane Sanvido/Sean Rice (Mil/Pen) raced to 1st in their category and 8th overall, Adrian Bam/Rory Sandberg (US) were 2nd (10th overall) and the Birkett brothers, Andrew and James were 3rd (12th overall).

The Mixed doubles was a most exciting race. With Ian Trautmann back on the water after a bout of flu last week, he and Megan Kelly (both Peninsula) gave a good account of themselves registering 14th position over all from another crew who had also been ill this past week, Chris de Waal/Cathryn Treasurer(Mil/Pen) (19th overall), with Alan (Rusty) Mills and Caron Planting (Pen) wrapping up 3rd place (36th overall).

The juniors were interestingly enough contested only by U 16 crews, with Paarl's Luke Stowman/Emile Minnaar winning over Rian Knobel/Gustav Kamfer (WHR/OUT), whilst racing in a K1, U 16 paddler Joseph Williams of Paarl, was the 3rd junior home.

It was again left to paddling legends Roelof van Riet and Andre Collins (Mil) to show the youngsters and ['not-so youngsters' how to do it. Their 18th position overall was only beaten by one Master's crew, that of the Veterans (40 - 44 yrs) from Plettenberg Bay, Steph le Roux and Wojtek Orzechowski . For van Riet and Collins, this was an excellent showing for 2 paddlers in their 60th year respectively and 114.3% of the winning time.

Next weekends Canon, Drew to Swellendam 38 km section of the Breede River, constitutes the 2nd day of the forthcoming Canon Breede River canoe marathon and all paddlers and officials look forward to an interesting race as the low-ish levels experienced these past 2 weekends may change with the 3 cold fronts that will reach the Cape this week - the first of which was making its landfall as paddlers were travelling back to Cape Town from Bonnivale yesterday afternoon.

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Results - Top Ten

1. Graeme Solomon/Lance King - Pen/Mil - 2 hours 17 minutes and 24 seconds

2. Paul Marais/Greg Barnard - Pen - 2:17:25

3. Ernest van Riet/Heinrich Schloms - Pen - 2:17:44

4. Pierre-Andre Rabie/Patrick Birkett - US/Pen - 2:24:52

5. Pieter-Willem Basson/Mynhardt Marais - Prl - 2:25:42

6. Peter Cole/Steve Farrell - Pen - 2:27:08

7. Greg van Heerden/Matthew van Heerden - Mil/US - 2:28:28

8. Dane Sanvido/Sean Rice - Mil/Pen - 2:29:29

9. Joe Kearney/Edgar Boehm jnr - Pen -2:29:59

10. Adrian Bam/Rory Sandberg - US - 2:31:57

Ladies

1. Lindi-May Harmsen/Abie Adie - Mil/KZN - 2:34:44

2. Jemma Hofmeyer/Angie Gafney - Pen - 3:03:43

3. Helene Rabie/Wiebke Dunaiski - Prl/US - 3:04:57

Junior (Under 16)

1. Emile Minnaar/Luke Stowman - Prl - 2:56:06

2. Ruan Knobel/Gustav Kamfer - WHR/Out - 3:03:33

Under 21's

1. Dane Sanvido/Sean Rice - Mil/Pen - 2:29:29

2. Adrian Bam/Rory Sandberg - US - 2:31:57

3. Andrew Birkett/James Birkett - UCT - 2:33:22

Sub Veterans

1. Paul Marais/Greg Barnard - Pen - 2:17:26

2. Duncan McIvor/Mike Duffus - Pen - 2:42:44

3. Stuart Hyde/Grant Lemke - Kny - 2:45:14

Veterans

1. Steph le Roux/Wojtek Orzechowki - Kny - 2:32:28

2. Quinton Miller/Steve Lennard - Pen - 2:43:20

3. Ralph Teulings/Mandy Simpson - Cen/Mil - 3:01:59

Sub Masters

1. Daantjie Malan/Johan Swart - US - 2:38:11

2. Nick Rocky/Graham Rowe - Pen - 2:40:04

3. Kevin Bouwer/Colin Miller - Mil/Pen - 2:49:59

Masters

1. Ian Glass/Shaun Butler - Pen - 2:38:30

2. Hubby Sandberg/Paul Dugmore - Kny/Out - 2:53:20

3. Gavin Finch/Colin McClemment - Cen/Mil - 2:53:29

Sub Grand Masters

1. Rob MacLean/Lionel Ekermans - Pen/Mil - 2:41:12

2. Gerfried Nebe/Pewter Unite - Pen - 2:52:09

Grand Masters

1. Roelof van Riet/Andre Collins - Mil - 2:37:14

2. Angus Hemp/Charles Melck - Pen/Mil - 3:13:35

K1 - Singles canoes

1. Cornelius Human - US - 2:33:23

2. Jamie Hamlin - WSK - 2:46:17

3. Henri van der Merwe - Pen - 2:50:20.