Friday, 31 December 2010 12:14
Canoeing big guns juggle training around GT Drak Challenge
Underberg - The rejigged national canoeing calendar has added an air of mystery to the Global Trader Drakensberg Challenge, which has effectively swopped places with the Dusi, and will take place on 22 and 23 January 2011.
With the popular two day race on the Umzimkulu less than a month away, many of the big names in domestic paddling have been spotted in Underberg doing their training and preparation during the December holidays, during which time the weather gods obliged with heavy rains that triggered some very full river flows.
However with the cash-rich Dusi a month after the GT Drak Challenge, several of the title contenders are playing their cards very close to their chest, reluctant to divulge just how this will affect their Drak performances due to the demands of the Dusi training, and in particular the negative impact of Dusi running training on their paddling performance.
Multiple Drak winner Ant Stott is a case in point. He is eager to get onto the clean, exciting waters of the Umzimkulu to prepare for the race that he has won six times, but is trying to play a balancing act with his Dusi training.
“In many ways the change to the calendar will be a great leveller, because none of the top paddlers will be sure of where their training is, and the shape of the other contenders,” he said. “It’s going to make it a very interesting race.”
Most of top paddlers are doing their best to “fly under the radar”, but several have confirmed their intention to take part in the annual one-day FastDrak race, which encompasses the entire two-day GT Drak course into a tough, no rules one-day race.
Hank McGregor is one of them. The defending champ is a fan of the clean after and exciting rapids, and has factored the tough FastDrak into his broader strategy for the first quarter of 2011, serving as a tripping for his title defence, as well as endurance base training for his Dusi challenge as well.
Good rains are forecast for the FastDrak on 31 December, which will make for an exciting contest, even if the big guns strive to deflect attention away from their form and fitness.
In late December the Umzimkulu came down in spate, following a week of thunderstorms, hail and heavy rains. At one stage a 95 cumec wall-of-water roared downriver following a massive thunderstorm high in the Garden Castle catchment area. This swept away several trees, and also loosened and shifted several others on the 70km race course.
With the river levels subsiding somewhat around Christmas, dozens of Drak hopefuls spent many hours tripping the river to digest the changes that might have been effected by the flooding, including the reported reshaping of the massive Glenhaven rapid in the floods.
The Global Trader Drak Challenge takes place in Underberg on 22 and 23 January 2011
More information can be found at www.drak.co.za
Add comment
