Birkett wins 10th consecutive Dusi title in 'challenging' conditions

Legendary canoeist Andy Birkett maintained his decade-long monopoly of the Dusi canoe marathon with a dominant victory in the 2023 edition of the biggest canoeing event on the continent.

In it’s 72nd year, the marathon sees paddlers racing over a 120km route from Pietermaritzburg’s Umsunduzi river to uMngeni river in Durban over three days.

Heading into the final day of the race, Birkett had a healthy 7:37 minute lead after winning day one and two of the men's race. That put him in the best possible position to cruise to his 10th consecutive Dusi title, and 13th overall.

Reflecting on that achievement after the race, Birkett said he has been able to do this by constantly learning from his mistakes and avoiding complacency. He also acknowledged the support of his team Euro Steel over the last 10 years.

“I have made mistakes in the races and I’ve learnt that we all will make mistakes. I just try to stay calm in the race and just focus on the three days, not just one day, but it’s stressing. Each and every day I wake up and know anything can happen,” he said.

Birkett finished the men’s three-day race in 7:15:42 overall, just six minutes ahead of runner-up Msawenkosi Mtolo (7:21:43) and nine ahead of third-placed David Evans (7:24:29).

Despite winning 13 of the last 14 Dusi marathons, Birkett said this year’s race was “different” and one of the most challenging owing to the level of the rivers, among other factors.

It was the first Dusi race after the 2021 April floods and paddlers had to navigate through the rocky and heavily reshaped uMngeni river.

“In the race I’ve never seen this much water before. This is more than twice the level I’ve ever paddled on this river before so it has been a real challenge (with) a lot more unknown variables than we’ve had to deal with before. Normally, you sort of know what to expect for the race on day two and three but I felt we were all racing as novices especially on the last day, today.”

In the women’s edition, heavy favourite and defending champion Christie MacKenzie cruised to her third successive title with a yet another landslide victory over her peers.

After dominant outings in the first two races, MacKenzie started the final race with a massive 26:56 lead over Olympic medallist Bridgitte Hartley and, despite taking two swims on her way to the finish line, MacKenzie’s win never was never in doubt.

By the end of day three, MacKenzie (8:19:35) finished 26 minutes and 51 seconds ahead of Hartley (8:47:28) in second place with Jordan Peek (8:56:48) completing the podium positions.