South African Wild Water Championships

Darryl Bartho will try to extend his winning streak at the South African Wild Water Championships to four back-to-back titles on the weekend, when the national showdown takes place in the notorious Umkomaas Gorge outside Richmond.

Bartho, who has represented South Africa in this discipline on several occasions, has a passion to make his mark as a consistent performer at wild water racing, and perhaps one day challenge the legendary Jerome Truran, who won the national title eight times in the seventies and eighties.

But Bartho will have to work hard to secure the top spot on the podium. He has been away from his wild water boat due to commitments to ski paddling and the recent interclub lifesaving champs in Australia.

He will also have to hold off the charge of a number of other top experienced wild water racers, including Johannesburg teenager Grant van der Walt, who has been the talk of the summer after winning both of the first two national trials at the Gauteng and KZN Championships this month.

Van Der Walt outpaced all the seniors in both events, signalling his steady progress as a top wild water racer. Last year he made waves by being the youngster competitor at the wild water junior world championships, beating the majority of other entrants in the races at the worlds in Italy.

Add to that mix the exciting talent of Sven Bruss, who has made a return to full-time paddling after a brief sojourn as a game ranger, and the experienced wild water talents of Craig Mustard, and veteran Dundas Gold, and the stage is set for a thrilling encounter in the Umkomaas Valley on Sunday.

The race will be held at the Highover Farm in the Hella Hella Gorge, starting two kilometres above the traditional Umkomaas marathon start, and finishing just above Number One rapid, providing fifteen minutes of time-trial racing on a medium level river.

“The flatwater will be a factor,” said national wild water chairperson Warren Stead. “In the current 1,4 metre water level, the race will be lost by a mistake in the rapids, and won by sheer power on the flatwater.”

The racing starts at 11am on Sunday, based at the Highover resort, and is being organised by the Gauteng Canoe Union.