The Dusi river canoe race marathon takes place annually between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, in February since the 1960’s when it was first explored by Ian Player (Gary Player’s brother) after the 2nd World War.  At that time there were few dams and water releases were not available – the boats were also made of canvas and wood, unlike the lighter carbon fibre of today’s race boats and the dams which today can provide a water release if water levels are too low – because of these problems, the boats had to be carried and the paddlers run past certain sections – hence it is an endurance event.  THE WORLD’S TOUGHEST CANOE ENDURANCE EVENT!!

Kelby Schmidthaus is a grade 12  student at the Marist Brothers, Linmeyer, who enjoys paddling, archery and trail running and has a passion for history.  One of his mentors is the legendary Ian Player who was one of the first pioneers of the Dusi Marathon and a passionate conservationist.  Kelby raced his first Dusi with his dad at age 15 and gained experience by learning the route and lines over the past two years.  This year the batten was handed over from father to son, and Kelby sat in  front and steered, thereby taking control of the choices, options, decisions, pace and lines to successfully complete his 3fd Dusi, with his dad, in a time of 12 hours 3 minutes……..

Uwe Schmidthaus and his son Kelby Schmidthaus who live on the banks of the Klip River in Henley on Klip and paddle frequently down to the Vaal River for past many years, thoroughly enjoy the more challenging river race  They finished as the 131st K2 (Double Kayak)