One of my clients was the primary sponsor this year for the Dusi (pronounced “doozy”) Canoe Marathon. The Dusi is a 120km paddle from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on the Msunduzi River. The race takes place over 3 days, there are about 20km’s of portage (carrying your boat on land), several rapids, and a hell of a good time.
You can paddle solo or with a partner, and several boats have a support crew to help them between stages. My co-worker Steve has completed 11 of these, and has done the ‘Durban Triathlon’ 10 times – maybe a record – which consists of the Dusi, the Midmar mile (an open water swim), and the Comrades Marathon (the world’s largest and oldest ultramarathon – 90Ks (55 miles)! First run in 1921, and coincidentally for all you ‘Noke readers, also completed by the current owner and manager of the Texas Tavern).
There’s a huge party for the support crews after day 2, so guess which day I attended? We had access to the VIP tent at the finish – lots of beers, great view of the paddlers coming in, and of the ‘Dusi Floozies’ welcoming paddlers on shore.
Day 2 finishes at Inanda Dam and we were supposed to take a boat cruise… which we missed. So, what did we get to do instead? Take a helicopter ride through the “Valley of 1000 Hills”.
I’ve alwsys wanted to ride in a helicopter and this is some of the most breathtakingly beautiful land I’ve ever seen. I got to see it while cruising in a tiny chopper at hair-raising speeds, with no doors, and close enough to the ground to buzz cows is some spots.
The area is home to formerly displaced individuals that were moved out of cities by the past Apartheid government. It unfortunately has the highest concentration of HIV anywhere in the world, but there are lots of initiatives underway to help. Our client who sponsors the race has sponsored over 5000 local orphans to attend crèches (day-cares) set up in the area, and next year will raise this sponsorship to 5000 creches!
What an amazing day.
Leave a comment