28 June 2014
Along with the ERK 21km flat water training race hosted at Homestead Dam in Benoni on Saturday 28 June, a 31km Berg Training race was also organized…. with assistance from the local municipality / sports department / city council, the club was able to provide canoeing booties to all participants and free food which would have been a welcome treat after the cold wintry choppy windy and overcast conditions on the race day, alien to the usual Gauteng warm sunny blue sky winter days we expect!
The long paddle was only supported by some 7 K1’s although no doubt many more will be going to Berg and it is no doubt appreciated by the few when the clubs provide training races to accommodate their requirements as paddling for 2 – 3 hours is lonely work!
Roy Clegg led the race by 4 seconds to finish in 2 hours 26 minutes (VIC) as the first Veteran while 2nd place finisher was Sub Master Mike Barry (ERK). Mark Shuter (Dabs) was 3rd finisher a few seconds after that with Malcolm Stothard (DABS) bringing up the 4th place in the bunch who kept each other company through the long chilled hours! Andrew Cooper finished in 2 hours 50 minutes (DABS) with Tommy Booth in tow some seconds later as 6th finisher, and the only lady in the 31km tough hard race was Lynn Morris (DABS) who finished the race in 3 hours 6 minutes as the first Master paddler.
Jennie Dallas
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