River · Cancellations / Western Cape

Western Cape’s Winter River Season Unravels

Western Cape river racing has lost most of its winter season to low water, with a run of cancellations across the region’s river system.

Maties Canoeing’s Nekkies–Eilanda, set for 1 August, was the first to go, called off after the Breede’s flow dropped to 3.5 cumecs. Eilanda to Robertson and the Giel van Deventer K2 Memorial followed. Robertson to Bonnievale, set for 22 August, is unlikely to go ahead for the same reason. The Olifants River race has also been cancelled. Two weeks after the first cancellation, organisers called off the region’s biggest river race of the year, the AJM Breede River Canoe Marathon and 2026 SA K2 River Championships, due to run 5 and 6 September. In a statement on 14 August, the Western Cape Canoe Union cited the river running at 4 cumecs and dropping, no rain forecast for the Breede catchment, new hazards and blockages left by earlier flood damage, and limited access to safety points along the course. Race-weekend venues are also still being rebuilt, with limited toilet and ablution facilities. The union thanked title sponsor AJM and partners Steri Stumpie, Maurten, Salt Kayaks and Orka “for supporting us this far” and said it hopes to build on the relationship for future editions.

The dry river beds fit a pattern meteorologists have tracked since June, when the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration placed an El Niño advisory in effect, with most forecast models expecting the event to strengthen through spring. Cape Town’s dams still held 77.7% of capacity as of 7 August, but that’s 13 percentage points down on the same week last year, and researchers note that healthy dam storage can mask a much drier season in the rivers that feed it. The city logged its driest July in 68 years, with the South African Weather Service recording several parts of the southwestern Cape’s lowest July rainfall on record.

River · Schools & Open / KwaZulu-Natal

Kearsney Tops the Schools League, Dingley Wins the Open Race

The Tugela 20’s, KZN’s combined schools and open K1 river championship, closed out the interschools league on the Tugela below Spionkop Dam on 8 and 9 August.

Fourteen Kearsney College paddlers covered a combined 30 km across the weekend. Ethan Kruger won the U14 title, with clubmate Jude Carr second; Thomas Bishop placed third in the U16 category and Jack Sternberg fourth in the U18s. It was the final interschools league event of the year, and Kearsney topped the standings ahead of Michaelhouse, Maritzburg College and Hilton.

In the open race, Dabulamanzi’s James Dingley won the senior title by seven minutes from Bridgitte Hartley, with clubmate Bruce Dixon fourth and the pairing of William Bradshaw and Kaelo Motene sixth. The club’s youngest entrant, twelve-year-old Asher Wilson, finished third in the U14 category in 3:04, ten minutes behind the U18 winner’s time.

River · Results / KwaZulu-Natal

Ntinga Wins the Chris van den Berg Memorial

Umzinyathi Canoe Club’s Chris van den Berg Memorial, the traditional curtain-raiser to KZN’s river season, ran on the Upper Umgeni on 16 August with 84 finishers across the K1 and K2 fleets.

Bongani Ntinga won the men’s K1 in 1:09:51, four seconds ahead of Siyanda Gwamanda. Siyabonga Ndlovu was third, the fastest of the U18 paddlers. Bridgitte Hartley was the leading woman, finishing 14th overall.

Club History / Gauteng

The Boat That’s Older Than Most of Its Paddlers

Dabulamanzi Canoe Club still races out of Emmarentia in a 1985 Danish-built Struer K2, a laminated mahogany veneer boat donated to the club in 2019.

Pierre and Louis Strydom of East Rand Kayak gave the boat to Dabulamanzi after racing it themselves between 1987 and 1991, when it won three silver and two bronze medals at the SA Sprint Championships. Pierre Strydom went on to manage South Africa’s sprint team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

Coaching · Clinics / KZN · Western Cape · Gauteng

Twelve-time world champion Oscar Chalupsky ran back-to-back meet-and-greet sessions this month: a two-hour on-water training camp at Durban Undersea Club on 9 August, then a second at Still Bay Paddling Club on 15 August. Both stops included a ChalupSki demo model on display, watch holders at R300 and signed copies of his autobiography No Retreat, No Surrender at R360.

In Johannesburg, AdroCoach’s Attila Adrovicz runs a winter canoeing clinic at Dabulamanzi Canoe Club, Emmarentia, from 31 August to 2 September, covering technique, canoe polo, ergo work and GCU school league prep for juniors, guppies and beginners at R450 a day. Adrovicz represented Hungary in sprint canoeing between 1984 and 1996, winning K4 1000m silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

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Gear · Team News / National

The 2026 Pete Marlin Surfski Race has revealed its custom race shirt, free to anyone entering before 21 September. The East London race doubles as the SA Ocean Paddling Championships for S1 and S2 on 31 October and 1 November, with more than R140,000 in prize money on offer.

PaddleSport South Africa called for team manager applications for the African Sprint Championships in Algeria, running 8 to 12 October. Applications closed 6 August; interested union reps and sprint officials can still direct queries to sg@paddlesportsa.co.za.

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