When the 2010 Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon starts on Thursday, Andrew King and Devlin Fogg won’t be on the water with the other competitors. They’ll be standing on the bank, their kayak on their shoulders, ready to run the route to raise awareness of the ecological challenges facing Umsunduzi and uMngeni rivers.
In The Powerade Race For The River, King and Fogg will run the three stages of this multiday canoe race on trails, aiming to stay as close to the banks of the rivers as possible. They expect to take double the time of the race leaders on each stage.
King has done numerous quirky challenges over the years – like running Comrades in jeans and an ‘up’ Dusi in midwinter. Some years ago Fogg was a member of the group who did a nine-month human-powered journey from the North pole to the South pole. In recent years he has been a member of the Land Rover G4 scouting team. Both have participated in adventure races.
The Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon has made more headlines in recent years for the river’ E.coli count than its sporting credentials. Participants are familiar with ‘Dusi Guts’, an illness of diahorrea and/or vomiting that more than half of the paddlers experience as a result of bacterial levels in the water that far exceed tolerable counts.
Contamination of the water is more than just about sick paddlers at this race; communities live on the banks and local people die from hepatitis and severe diahorrea, diseases contracted from the polluted water.
The Hansa Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon is a 3-day event. King and Fogg start running on Thursday from the start in Pietermaritzburg. They’ll finish the 120km distance on Saturday in Durban.
Image from The Witness newspaper.