The Stihl Hansa Umkomaas has brought the curtain down on this years competitive river canoeing season in KZN. Hank McGregor and Brandon van der Walt streaked away to a win, and were the only boat amongst the top 5 to survive a very knarly no. 1 rapid.
Andy Birkett rounded off his awesome season to finish 2nd with Jason Graham in the back while ex-sprinter Dave Hamilton-Brown and Murray Burgess finished in 3rd. Shaun Griffin and Mark Mulder came from 6th on day 1 up to 4th at the finish while defending champs Theron and Cruickshanks had an incident filled race to 5th.
With the river at 1,5m Number 1 rapid was at its most difficult level and caused major damage to the boat of Deon Bruss and Ant Stott, who continued on with the aid of duct tape to finish 29th.
The tricky 1,5m level on day 2 did its fair share of damage to boats all through the field, with enough water for big waves and strong flow, but still plenty of rocks in play.
Andrew Neal and I fell victim to a rock in the rapid known as 4 and a half. Hitting one rock was enough to do damage that forced us to join the likes of Bruss and Stott in having to patch up in order to finish. In fact, we arrived at Josephines bridge in 30th, just behind the race favourites.
The Umko is a river that certainly deserves huge respect.
Things happen really quickly on the mighty Umko. For us, from having a shout at a top 10, a rock we couldn't see till it was too late, and then we spent 20 mins on the bank. For Deon and Ant, no.1 did their chances in. Many others have similar stories to tell. Most of all, Tim Platt and Deborah Dick who had abandoned their boat, heard news that the boat was seen floating near no.8. They got a lift back to the river, found where the boat was, taped it up, climbed in and paddled to Josephines to finish day 2 in 7 and a half hours. Respect!
A mighty river, a mighty load of FUN!
Goodbye paddles... Hello running shoes!
It's only 10 weeks away now, but I'm going to have a go at getting ready for Comrades.
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| Andrew Neal and Stuart Clifton in No. 1... we made it :) |
With the river at 1,5m Number 1 rapid was at its most difficult level and caused major damage to the boat of Deon Bruss and Ant Stott, who continued on with the aid of duct tape to finish 29th.
The tricky 1,5m level on day 2 did its fair share of damage to boats all through the field, with enough water for big waves and strong flow, but still plenty of rocks in play.
Andrew Neal and I fell victim to a rock in the rapid known as 4 and a half. Hitting one rock was enough to do damage that forced us to join the likes of Bruss and Stott in having to patch up in order to finish. In fact, we arrived at Josephines bridge in 30th, just behind the race favourites.
The Umko is a river that certainly deserves huge respect.
Things happen really quickly on the mighty Umko. For us, from having a shout at a top 10, a rock we couldn't see till it was too late, and then we spent 20 mins on the bank. For Deon and Ant, no.1 did their chances in. Many others have similar stories to tell. Most of all, Tim Platt and Deborah Dick who had abandoned their boat, heard news that the boat was seen floating near no.8. They got a lift back to the river, found where the boat was, taped it up, climbed in and paddled to Josephines to finish day 2 in 7 and a half hours. Respect!
A mighty river, a mighty load of FUN!
Goodbye paddles... Hello running shoes!
It's only 10 weeks away now, but I'm going to have a go at getting ready for Comrades.
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