Three paddlers stand poised to be part of the Super Trout membership on the Drak Challenge canoe marathon on 28 and 29 January as the favored two-day race attracts one other huge discipline excited by the complete uMzimkhulu River.
Gary Atkinson, Jeremy Ferrow and Shane Millward have all accomplished nineteen Draks and will they end the 2023 version of the 72km race they are going to be welcomed into the sixteen-strong group of paddlers with twenty or extra Drak finishes to their credit score.
Super Trouts candidates step ahead at Drak Challenge
There can also be set to a shake-up on the prime of the checklist as Colin Simpkins units off on his twenty seventh Drak and can prime the checklist of Drak Trouts, an inventory that was for a lot of the races 28-year historical past was topped by Pietermaritzburg paddling icon Owen Hemmingway.
ALSO READ: Andy Birkett the gold commonplace on the Drak Challenge
Last yr Simpkins edged one away from Hemmingway to share the checklist of most Drak finishes with Dave Macleod, and says the Underberg race is a must-do on his annual paddling calendar.
“The Drak sums up what paddling is to me,” says Simpkins. “It is full of great, exciting rapids, raced on a clean, untamed river and in the beautiful scenery of the foothills of the Drakensberg,” mentioned Simpkins.
“The race always attracts the best paddlers in the country and to do well at the Drak you have to be on top of your game,” he added. “What is notable although is that, whereas it’s so aggressive, the temper and ambiance on the race is so relaxed.
“But what makes it special is that it is so much more than a race,” he went on to say. “The community embraces everything about the event. There is so much for the families to do on the weekend.”
ALSO READ: Paddling star Hamish Lovemore bolsters discipline
Golf day glory
Simpkins ring-fences Saturday afternoon for the festive social 9 gap golf match on the Underberg Country Club, and has through the years, been ready to raise the huge gaudy Spanish trophy above his head for profitable the golf day.
Macleod, who has left the door has been left open for Simpkins to prime the Drak Trout checklist by emigrating final yr, says he needs Simpkins nicely, however added that there was no assure Simpkins would overtake him.
ALSO READ: Christie Mackenzie is gunning for the title
“For years the Trout checklist has been sorted alphabetically by surname so I’ve technically been simply above him. This yr is his likelihood.
“I started every year in the same batch as Colin so I have seen how he paddles,” Macleod added. “It’s a bit like watching a ping-pong ball in a washing machine the way he bashes all the rocks. So who knows…” he speculated.
“Dave has, over the years become the Phil Liggett of paddling. His voice has become synonymous with major races around the country,” Simpkins weighed in.
A light-weight rib
“Since the inception of the Drak, I have come to admire Dave for his contribution to the sport. Looking at his results, I was always under the impression that he was unselfishly acting as a sweep,” Simpkins joked.
“It was only brought to my attention recently that he has actually been “racing” on a regular basis. After 26 hits at it, one would have thought that there could be a modicum of enchancment in his efficiency, however alas…
“He has additionally taken it upon himself to make movies of the assorted rapids, which he has been complicit it giving a wide range of very nondescript names, dolling out recommendation on which strains to take. By the variety of non finishers every year, it seems that a number of the extra gullible have truly taken these critically.
“Off the river, he is no legend either,” he added.
“Year after yr, when the announcer calls his identify on the first tee of the Drak golf day, there’s a deafening silence, regardless of flurries of correspondence expounding his virtues on the hyperlinks, operating up to the occasion.
“It’s probably not a bad thing that he is stuck in the frozen wastelands of the maple leaf, where he can concentrate on his actual talent behind the keyboard,” mentioned Simpkins.
ALSO READ: Rising paddling star Dave Evans targets podium at Drak Challenge
N3TC Drak Challenge Super Trouts
26 – Dave Macleod, Colin Simpkins.
25 – Owen Hemingway.
24 – Kirsten Oliver.
23 – Glenn Hilliar, Greg Hitchins, Gavin Tarr.
22 – Lawrence Blackbeard, Gary Waud.
21 – Bart Fokkens, Nigel Stevens, Anthony Van Tonder, Bruce Wenke.
20 – Kevin Middleton, Dean Oellermann, Hugh Raw.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES BY JAMES RICHARDSON
