Doozy is an old term used to describe anything remarkable, unusual or outstanding of its kind—and the Dusi Canoe Marathon is certainly these things.
Why the Dusi Canoe Marathon is a real doozy
The venerable South African event is one of the toughest kayak marathons on the planet: three days of racing covering 75 miles, including ruinous rapids, headwind-plagued flatwater and up to 12 miles of brutal portaging through steep bush. The race has claimed four lives. Composite kayaks snapped in half like brittle twigs are not an uncommon sight.
Founded in 1951, the first Dusi down the Umsindusi and Umgeni rivers was raced by just eight paddlers. Nearly six-and-a-half days later, only one bedraggled and exhausted kayaker arrived at the finish in Durban, having survived two days of low water, a flash flood and a venomous viper bite. Over the next three decades, the annual event swelled to more than 1,000 paddlers—larger even than the narrow views of apartheid: the first black competitor raced the Dusi in 1981.
Today, the Dusi is raced K1 and K2 in alternating years, attracting between 1,600 and 2,000 competitors. For this image of three-time podium finisher and 2014 champion Sbonelo Khwela, photographer Kelvin Trautman sought out a vantage point that captured the effort of sprinting up the marathon’s infamous portages in sweltering 104°F heat.
Khwela’s prowess on the treacherous hills and lung-busting flats is legendary. “Running is my strength,” he says, “I rely on the run to close big gaps, or if I’m pulling away, that’s where I can make the other guys suffer.”
This article was first published in the Summer/Fall 2016 issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine. It’s a real Dusi. | Feature photo: Kelvin Trautman/Red Bull Content Pool
