50 Miler

After much training the first of the two big races finally arrived…50 MILER. Two days of paddling down the Dusi and Umgeni rivers with some real water and real rapids. This is where things get fun (and sore)!!

On day one we were to paddle from Mission rapid to Marion Foley causeway. This meant we passed through some big water in the confluence stretch and through a rapid known at the washing machine. Before the race I’d decided I would portage the washing machine, being my first time down this stretch in a single. This was a good plan on paper, but things were somewhat different in the river. Somehow I never saw my marker and ended up shooting it. Due to some extreme “skill” I made it through with no problems. So that was pretty much the highlight of day one for me. Day 1…success!!

On to day 2. I was now fairly stiff, and it was my birthday. I’m sure you’re supposed to relax on your birthday? They could’ve at least given me a head start…

Anyway, day two took us from Marion Foley onto Inanda dam. Its a great stretch of river I’d paddled before in lower conditions. My only concern was the 12km pull across the dam at the end of the day. The day didn’t go as well for me as day 1, with about 5 unneccessary falls, which resulted in a lot of waisted time and energy.

When we reached the dam we had a short portage due to some water hysonth. At thins point there was a small gap in the hysonth to paddle to the bank in. Sadly I somehow didn’t see it, and ended up forcing my way through…not a very pleasant experience. Apparently all the people on the bank thought it was quite funny. ASSHOLES! Just kidding…it was rather funny.

The dam was much better than expected and I made the pull across fairly easily. All in all a fantastic race and I look forward to Dusi in a months time.