Klip River Race Report

The low water levels of recent weeks were shaken by a number of rainstorms
throughout the Klip River feeder area raising the level to awesome fun and
very enjoyable….while some rapids become easier, others become monsters
which is enjoyable for the experienced paddlers preparing for the upcoming
FNB Dusi in February.

The Annual Two Day Klip River Race hosted by JCC on the last weekend of
January has always been a magnet for flooding, however in the middle/lower
section of the Klip, without the very tight technical corners and tree
infested narrow channels of the Upper Klip the race was very enjoyable.

The full results will be posted by GCU on the GCU website, while this brief
report identifies the top podium finishers and first age category winners.

Piers Cruickshanks with Zonele Nzuza (Dabs/Sow) were the overall first
place winners of the TWO DAY event in a time of 4 hours 10 minutes with
Phineas Zulu and Xolile Kondile (SOW/UMZ) finishing second in 4 hours 11
minutes.

The 3rd place finishers were Richard Fly and Peter Jacobs (CEN/KIN) in 4
hours 13 minutes, while the 4th place finishers were only 12 seconds behind
them bringing in Sowetans Chazani Gumede and Simnikiwe Ntondini!

The first Veterans Kelvin Byres and Mark Garden (Dabs) in 4:13:46, in 5th
place, and 6th were the Sub Veteran team of Alex Roberts and Shaun Maphanga
(Dabs/FLO) in 4:15.

The winning Sub Master finishers were Troy Clark and Benjamin Cockram
(Dabs) in 4:37 minutes, as 13th K2, while the first finishing K1 which was
the 14th boat to cross the finish line in 4:43 was Tom Ngcobo (Sow).

Nicholas Warren and Sonja Bohnsack (Dabs) were the first Mixed Double
finishers in 4:53 as 2nd Sub masters, and Uwe Schmidthaus (VLC) was the
first Master Finisher, K1 4th overall, in a time of 5 hours 12 minutes
followed by the first Under 23 K1 finisher, Peter Chissano (JCC) in 5:14 as
5th K1.

The Sub Grand Master first finisher was Carel van Biljon (Dabs) in 5:48,
9th K1, and Gavin Taylor (Dabs) finished as the first Grand Master, 13th
K1, in 6:08.

There was good water, good racing and good weather all in all and the
opportunity to train hard for the upcoming FNB Dusi was appreciated.