September 9, 2004
By Anish Abraham
HISTORY will be made in Soweto as it hosts its first-ever Gauteng Canoe Union time trial on 12 September.
The hosts, the Soweto Canoe Club, have taken great strides since their inception in late October 2003 and look set to provide the country with more young black canoe enthusiasts.
Situated at Orlando Power Park Dam in Orlando East, the Soweto Canoe Club provides coaching clinics and equipment to the youngsters of the community and helping those who have problems with transportation as well as finance. The clinics provide swimming lessons as well as basic canoe navigation skills.
The club currently has 12 registered canoeists and between 25 and 40 youngsters from the local community who come for daily training sessions.
Ryno Armdorf, the club's development coach, says: "It's really amazing how much interest the kids have in the sport."
He adds: "There are nine youngsters who are really into it and I'm working hard with them at the moment."
The Power Park flat event - a sprint race on calm water - is the penultimate SFS Gauteng Canoe Union time trial and an important leg of the Specialised Freight Services sponsored series.
Participation in this leg is compulsory for those who want to qualify as top overall performers in the series.
The sponsors will also use the occasion to hold a luck draw in which two K1 standard production kayaks will be given away.
According to Graham Bird, chairman of the Gauteng Canoe Union: "Each canoe club will be given an allocation of tickets and they will then be able to take home the money earned from sales of the tickets for their own development initiatives."
The final time trial of the Gauteng Canoe Union series will be hosted by the Dabulamanzi Canoe Club and take place on 26 September at Emmarentia Dam in Johannesburg.
The series can be used as preparation for the gruelling Fish River Canoe Marathon from 1 to 2 October, as its competitors need to have participated in at least four of six time trials to be eligible for the event.
For more information, contact Ryno Armdorf of the Soweto Canoe Club on 083 324 2705 or Graham Bird of the Gauteng Canoe Union on 083 601 8693.
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