Herewith the details of the upcoming Stellenbosch Eerste river race.

Please join us for the first run of this exiting new annual event.

Venue: The start will be at the “hangbrug” near Lanzerac in Stellenbosch. Instead of turning left into Lanzerac one just continues straight, the road will turn to the left and turn into a gravel road. 100m further you will go through a gate, the parking area and start is right there (please look for Lazerac on the attached map). There is plenty of parking.

The finish will be at Spier Wine Estate.

Water: We have secured a water release with the dep of forestry and water affairs. Rain is however predicted for Friday so the water level will be determined by the rain.

River: The river is a very exciting fast flowing river. There are three weirs of which two are shoot-able and one will be a portage. There is one slightly difficult rapid which will be an optional portage – It is however not dangerous. The rest of the river does not have big waves but is fast flowing and there are no pools.

The distance is +- 19 km and just over an hours paddle.

Safety: We will clearly mark the portage, weirs and the difficult rapid.

Green lint means go there i.e. if there is a green lint on the left the rapid/weir should be shot there.

An orange lint means it is an optional portage i.e. the rapid can be shot – there will be only one of these.

A red lint across the river means that it is a compulsory portage – there is also only one of these.

There is therefore no need to have tripped the river before the time!

There will be safety officers at all of the above mentioned points.

Format: The race format will be a time trial similar to the Lowveld Croc. In other words paddlers will be started one by one – one minute apart. The highest seeded paddler will start first. Obviously the results will be determined by the paddler’s individual times. The reason for this is simply that the river is not big enough for a bunch to start together.

It is a K1 race and regrettably only for A grade paddlers this time around.

The prize giving will be held at the finish at 12:15. Food and drinks will be available for sale.

This promises to be a fun exiting race, close to Cape Town, running through the middle of the historic town of Stellenbosch and finishing between the wineyards. On top of that it is great last minute training for the Fish as well.