The anuual Hansa Powerade Fish River Canoe Marathon took place from Grassridge Dam on Friday and Saturday, with over 83km of paddling through the Fish River.
The anuual Hansa Powerade Fish River Canoe Marathon took place from Grassridge Dam on Friday and Saturday, with over 83km of paddling through the Fish River.
The total distance of the marathon is 83.4km, the first day covered a distance of 48km and finished near Knutsford Bridge, the start of day two, which was over a distance of 35.4km, finishing at the Sports Complex in Cradock.
Over 1 400 paddlers took part in the race, which was also the South African K1 river championships and a University Sports South Africa (USSA) event, attracting a strong field of competitive local and international paddlers.
Len Jenkins from KwaZulu-Natal shattered his own race record en route to winning the 27th edition of the Hansa Powerade Fish in a combined time of 4 hours 51 minutes 16 seconds.
German sprint world champion Max Hoff finished second and Hank McGregor third. In the women’s race overnight leader Robyn Kime claimed the women’s title in 5:38:22. Katerina Vacikova claimed the silver while Michelle Eray finished third.
A number of Rhodes University Canoe Club members took part, with Michael Patrick the first club member home, finishing in a combined time of 5:28:10 for the two days in 30th place overall and fifth in the U21 section.
He was followed by Jean-Paul Thorne in 6:06:17 and Robert Kenmuir in 6:11:47. The first Rhodes Canoe club woman home was Alex Adie who finished in 6:13:04 as the 14th woman home and fourth in the U21 women’s category.
In the USSA event, Rhodes sisters Alex and Charlotte Adie took third place. The big field included the first ever K4 to tackle the two day marathon.
The race committee bent the rules in allowing the lengthy craft to take part as it was part of a Breast Cancer Awareness and fundraiser drive.
The K4 team consisted of Grant Van Greune, Clive Goble, his daughter Jessica Goble (Rhodes paddler) and Minaar Lyell and finished in 7:52:45. The K4 team raised over R50 000 on the weekend from selling pink breast cancer ribbons, saving heads in aid of cancer awareness and from generous donations.
The money will go towards building an oncology unit in Cradock. The Fish River presented some obstacles including the Cradock Weir (the most scary obstacle of the race; a 2.5 metre sheer drop weir), where Port Elizabeth based lifeguards were on the ball and pulled out many swimming paddlers from the very hectic weir suck back (which K4 participant Jessica Goble described as a washing machine).
There was also the Kieth’s Flyover Rapid, the biggest on the river and classed as a grade 4 rapid, which was successfully covered by Rhodes students Tim Hulley and James Dillon.
“Another rapid is the Soutpans rapid, which is 200 metres long (longest of the race), with a number of big holes that have been known to ‘swallow’ boats,” said Goble.
All finishers received a Hansa Powerade Fish Medal, with the top ten been awarded gold, silver medals to the next 40 and bronze to all finishers.
Rhodes Canoe Club results K1:
30. Michael Patrick (first day – 3:10:58, second day – 2:17:11) total time 5:28:10
188. Jean-Paul Thorne (3:37:15, 2:29:01) 6:06:17
233. Robert Kenmuir (3:41:46, 2:30:00) 6:11:47
250. Alex Adie (3:38:14, 2:34:50) 6:13:04
373. James Dillon (3:51:15, 2:37:14) 6:28:29
423. David Goble (3:52:05, 2:44:29) 6:36:34
460. Tim Hulley (3:54:19, 2:46:57) 6:41:16
478. Angus Lind Holmes (3:50:04, 2:54:28) 6:44:33
628. Charlotte Adie (4:13:46, 3:00:24) 7:14:10
714. Alistair Codrington (4:21:46, 3:16:47) 7:38:34
786. Craig Hunter (4:58:26, 3:17:52) 8:16:19
827. Claire Braithwaite (5:02:57, 4:12:47) 9:15:44
834. Damon Friss (6:36:22, 3:18:18) 9:54:40
Rhodes Canoe Club results K2:
688. Craig Hartley and Justin Hotz (4:29:18, 3:01:40) 7:30:58
741. Karen Crouch and Amy Attenborough (4:31:52, 3:18:53) 7:50:45
788. Kevin Andrew and Peter Andrew (4:57:10, 3:20:29) 8:17:39
836. Quintas Wells and Gareth Bleazard (6:38:02, 3:46:06) 10:24:09
Rhodes Canoe Club results K4:
749. Jessica Goble (Rhodes), Clive Goble, Grant van Greune and Lyell Minaar (4:34:24, 3:18:21) 7:52:45.
