Blog - Page 3

Date: 09 June 2017 - 11 June 2017
Event Cost: R8200 per team
Location: Camps Drift, Pietermaritzburg
Distance: 121km (2-day stage race)

Venue name: The Golden Horse Casino & Hotel
Address: 45 New England Rd
Venue Info: Saturday shows 11am, 3pm and 7pm
Price: R100 - R375

About the Dusi

The Dusi Canoe Marathon was founded in 1951, and covers roughly 120km between the cities of Pietermaritzburg and Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, on the East Coast of South Africa.
It is the biggest canoeing event on the African continent, and one of the world’s most popular river marathons, attracting between 1600 and 2000 paddlers each year.
Paddlers can choose between normal marathon K1s, K2s or even K3s (yes a K4 has even finished the Dusi before). These boats need to be of robust construction to be able to take the knocks dished out by the rocky river, and must have an overstern rudder. Paddlers must wear splashcover (spraydescks) and lifejackets (PFDs) and, if very full river conditions occur, will be required to wear helmets. Paddlers must make provision for their own hydration, and carry enough fluids for each stage of the race.
For South African paddlers, the race requires each entrant to be AR rated (having passed a basic proficiency test and then the required number of C and B rated river races), as well as successfully completing a number of qualifying races.

This race has become the most popular marathon and half marathon combination in KwaZulu-Natal. The race not only has generously achievable cut off times (four and a half hours for 21,1 km and six and a half hours for the marathon) but caters equally for runners and walkers. Registered wheel chair athletes are welcome in the dedicated quarter and half marathons on Saturday morning, 25th (for safety reasons, we, unfortunately, may no longer include these athletes in the road running races). This is an ideal entry level Marathon, Half Marathon or 10km.