The first day of the Dusi Canoe Marathon ended on a high note, with men’s champion Andy Birkett and his partner Matthew Fenn coming out on top on Thursday.
They were closely followed by Sbonelo Khwela and Msawenkosi Mtolo, who finished second.
Among the women, Abby Solms rowing with Robyn Groeniknk came first, Christie Mackenzie and Saskia Hockly came second.
This famous three-day rowing race started at Bishopstowe Hall, Pietermaritzburg, and ended at Dusi Bridge.
On Friday morning, he will start at Dusi Bridge and wrap up at Nanda Dam, and tomorrow the flood will be watched at the Blue Lagoon, Durban, which is where he will wrap up in the finals on Saturday.
Birkett and Fenn who are last year’s champions, on the first day came out on top with a time of 1:53:31, followed by Khwela and Mtolo at a time of 1:53:54, third was Bongani Ntinga and Sandile Mtolo at 1:56:09.
Among the women, Solms and Groenink came first in 2:12:38, Mackenzie and Hockly came second in 2:15:00.
This year’s Dusi is of the K2 type, where the rowers row in pairs in cooperation.
Last year it was K1, the winner was Birket, second was Khwela, third was Fenn.
In the 2024 K2, Birkett and Fenn took the lead, Khwela and Mtolo were second.
Although there is still a long way to go as there are still two days of rowing, it looks very promising for the black rowers who have been showing improvement throughout the year.
Of the top ten in yesterday’s race on the first day, they went from second place to tenth place where Mpendulo Mthethwa and Sanele Mbanjwa closed.
This makes it highly anticipated that it will give birth to a cow in the race of the second day today and the final race tomorrow.
It started in 2008 that a brown rower came out on top in this race, winning Thulani Mbanjwa who rowed with Martin Dreyer, followed by Khwela (then called Zondi) in 2014 rowing with Birkett. In 2020 it was Khumbulani Nzimande who also rowed with veteran Birkett.