Heavy rains fell on Monday night in the catchment area. This caused a swollen river by Tuesday, meaning 4 things. First, with fast waters, paddling times should be reduced. Second, some of the rapids become dangerous and lead to more portaging. Third, portages become treacherous, due to lots of mud. Fourth, the high waters pushed all the garbage and pollution downstream, so a normal start was possible.

Clinton and his partner, Glen were placed in batch H, which started at 7.10, on Thursday morning. This was their 3rd Dusi together, although Glen had done 9 and Clint had done 6. Due to the fact that Glen had just got married and had been away on holiday, some of the more recent races were missed, but previous results held them in good stead, as H batch is not bad. The top, seeded paddlers launched at 6.00 am and every 10 minutes thereafter, another batch was dispatched. Batches ran up to T, with about 60 boats in a batch.

Our boys bettered last year’s time and completed the first day’s stage, without any problems, in a time of 3 hours 58 minutes. This was 14 minutes better than the first leg of 2007 and 17 minutes better than 2006. They were placed 280 of 1203 boats that started the race. They climbed up to C batch, for the second day.

The race up front saw loads of action and some controversy. Second placed, Ant Stott and Wayne Thompson were accused by Hank McGregor and Sven Bruss, of running through a prohibited area. They were first disqualified from the race, but on appeal, it was found to have been an innocent mistake and they were fined and allowed to continue. Dreyer and Mbanjwa held on to top place.

Our boys left Dusi Bridge at 7.25 am in batch C for the second leg of the marathon. The water was still very high, some rapids were dangerous and by now the river was filthy brown, with all the mud and erosion. They managed to complete this leg, with only one spill, near Tombi rapids. They made up a lot of time on the river, but the long, hard pull across Inanda Dam, took it’s toll and our guys came in rather weary, with a time of 4 hours and 5 minutes. Their position improved to 239. Strangely their batching changed to F batch. We couldn’t explain this. The third day always starts an hour later, to get maximum spectator support, at mid morning, from the Durban crowds. Clint and Glen were only scheduled to start at 8.55 am.

The main dice continued amongst the race leaders. Stott’s boat broke the stage record for the second day and Dreyer/Mbanjwa recorded the fastest ever time for the notorious Burma Road portage, but this was still not enough to catch the race leaders.

Our boys managed to complete the whole course without spilling out and finished the stage in 4 hours and 5 minutes. Again this time was an improvement over the 2 previous years. They shaved another 9 minutes off last year’s time and a whopping 31 minutes off their time for 2006. They were graded into batch for the third day’s stage.

Our boat 6513 got off to a good start and made good time along the river. The day was hotter than the previous 2 days and paddlers had to be wary of dehydration. There is a long stretch of the river where seconders cannot reach, so the paddlers are on their own for over an hour. In his first race Clint broke a paddle on this stretch and was forced to battle on to the end, without assistance. Fortunately our boys had no trouble this time and came home in very good time. They completed day 3 with a time of 4 hours 13 minutes. Each stage they improved their times and this led to an overall finishing time of 11 hours and 17 minutes. This is a whole 38 minutes better than last year. This, even with Glen not being fully fit, is an excellent achievement. Well done boys!

Nobody ever looked like catching race leaders Martin Dreyer and Michael Mbanjwa, even with records being broken. Dreyer and Mbanjwa were deserved winners, followed by Ant Stott and Wayne Thompson in second and Hank McGregor and Sven Bruss in third spot. There were no surprises in the womens category with Alexa Lombard and Abbey Madiema easily winning. Many records were broken this year. More official results tomorrow.

Derek Robson is an up and coming, South African, internet marketer, with a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success, on the internet. He is a syndicated article writer. He and his wife Sally, have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. For daily postings and articles, on Internet marketing, South African business, list building, affiliate marketing, the law of attraction, rugby and general topics, check his blogsite, at: http://dersalsites.com/southafricanbusiness  

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Clinton Robson is a fitness fanatic and is a qualified Personal Trainer. He is busy doing a special higher level course, to qualify as an Exercise Specialist, or Conditioning Coach. At present, he works in 2 gyms, assisting the staff with clients and training plans. He has been working out regularly, for the last 10 years. After completing the higher course, he will seek employment on the cruise ships, to gain more experience and then will open his own gym. He has decided to use blogging, as a medium to share articles on fitness, exercise, bodybuilding, gym, training and more.

Clint has also put together a website, on fitness and bodybuilding and has amassed hundreds of articles, on various topics of fitness. Check his site at: http://dersalsites.com/clintstraining/  and his new blogsite at http://dersalsites.com/clintstrainingblog/

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