The Dusi Canoe Marathon returns to its traditional start line at Camps Drift in Pietermaritzburg in February next year.

The roughly 120 km, three-day race from Pietermaritzburg to Durban is one of the premier canoe marathons in the country.

KwaZulu-Natal Canoe Club chairperson Doug Gow says this comes after the previous two races started from Bishopstowe Hall. This was at the time, due to concerns over E-coli levels in the Umsunduzi River.

Gow says organisers will work with the Umsunduzi municipality to lower E. coli levels in the coming months. He says if needs be, they can still fall back on a Bishopstowe start on the 20th of February.

“And it’s not cast in stone. We’ll have to assess the water quality. We’ll have to, the paddlers’ interests come first. It’s caused a lot of controversy which is in one way really great because it stirred up feelings that normally don’t get stirred up at this time of the year. And it’s created a lot of awareness around the race and the river itself, which is a great thing.”

Meanwhile, Gow says heavy rains, as well as the usual release of water from Henley Dam shortly before the race, will also influence water quality on the first day of the Dusi.

“E. coli levels vary, and they go up and down. Right now they’re not great. Whenever you have rain the sewers get overflown and you get a big flush into the river of E. coli. We work with the council in the lead-up to the race. We’ve identified four areas that we’ll work very strongly on, the other areas aren’t that bad. And we’re trying to make it almost a flat water race from the start to the first portage, after that, the river cleans up a little bit.”

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— Dusi Canoe Marathon (@DusiCanoe) February 18, 2023