By Nick Tatham
The first day of the 2026 Dusi Canoe Marathon dished up its fair share of drama at the front of the race as Andy Birkett and Matt Fenn claimed the men’s honours, while Abby Solms and Robyn Groenink took the ladies’ stage win on Thursday.
The 27km stage proved to be a sprint to the line in the men’s race, with the lead changing a few times as the Plastrading duo of Sbonelo Khwela and Msawenkosi Mtolo were right in the mix until the final few kilometres, when the Euro Steel pair of Birkett and Fenn broke away to take the stage honours.
Khwela and Mtolo had bent their rudder, which they had to stop and try to fix, which cost them crucial time. In the end they couldn’t chase the race and made sure they kept the lead pair within touching distance, a gap of 23 seconds.
After the stage, Birkett was surprised by how open the racing was on a stage that saw the lead change hands on multiple occasions.
“That was exciting; I knew it was going to be close racing, and we told ourselves that,” 15-time Dusi champion Birkett said. “You never really mentally prepare for a cat-and-mouse race when you are running sub-4min kilometres down the hills with a boat on your shoulder!
“It came right down to the end where we managed to get a bit of a gap on Msawe and Sbonelo. They were super strong today, and it’s awesome racing against guys that are going to give it a good go and hold nothing back.”
For Fenn, it was a unique feeling being in the position of being chased, as he and Birkett had to stave off the threat from behind them.
“I’ve never won a day one at the Dusi, and I’ve always been the one chasing, so it’s really cool to be in the mix, and I love the cat-and-mouse game.
“It was hot out there, and just trying to keep up with the guys is such a challenge, but it’s awesome to be able to race out here in this incredible race,” Fenn added.
Coming home in second place was not what they wanted as they chased down the defending champions, but Khwela feels they will have to change gears over the next two days to catch Birkett and Fenn.
“The race didn’t go according to plan for us because we wanted to be first, but there are two days to go, and anything can happen,” Khwela said.
Mtolo echoed his partner’s sentiments when he spoke about what can still unfold over the next two days.
“We tried to keep Andy and Matt off our backs, but we had some boat issues where we bent our rudder at Finger Neck, and then on Cabbage Tree we tried to run away from them, but when we put in together, they helped us with our rudder and got a gap to the finish.”
The ladies’ race was more one-sided, as the Euro Steel pairs went head-to-head, with the pre-race favourites Christie Mackenzie and Saskia Hockly finishing more than a minute behind winners Solms and Groenink.
Groenink is only paddling her second Dusi Canoe Marathon but is well poised after day one; however, her partner, Solms, said it was a day of hard racing.
“It was a brutal, fast day; not how I’m used to racing, but that is how it should be, and we pushed each other right to the line,” Solms said. “The race was tight until the bottom of Geoff’s Road, where we managed to get a bit of a gap.”
In the age group contests it was the U18 pair of Siyabonga Ndlovu and Sbonelo Dube who finished ninth overall to be the fastest boat in the U23 and U18 categories.
Angus Dick and Luke Swinny were the second-fastest U23 boat, with Menzi Mthembu and Sbulelo Ngobese finishing third on day one.
Behind Ndlovu and Dube in the U18 contest were James Gotte and Melokuhle Ntombela in second and Keegan Vogt and Ryley Smith in third.
In the women’s U23 race Amy Hullett and Saran Jones finished fourth overall and were the fastest U23 boat, while Rachel van Deventer and Tyla Isaac finished second, and Jessica Behn and Jenna Goddard finished third.
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