In the chill of the morning of Wednesday 6 July the 61st edition of the iconic Berg River Canoe Marathon will get under way at the start of the annual 240 km journey to Velddrif on the West Coast.

As the paddlers pass through Paarl on the first stage it will be obvious that the great race is continuing to evolve and to stay current and relevant, while building on its six decades of sporting legacy.

The most obvious change on that first stage is the start moving to the new bridge over the Berg River at Val de Vie lifestyle estate. That makes the race seven kilometres longer and now includes some fun, fast flowing water above the old start at Market Street bridge.

The crowds will still gather on the Market Street bridge, because it will be the first of a series of new hotspots that are another bold innovation to this famous race.

In addition to cash prizes up for grabs for the first men and women, there are vital time bonuses to be won. Simply put, the first paddler to the bridge hotspot will get 30 seconds taken off their race time, the second boat 20 seconds off and the third 10 seconds.

bridge-prize shake-up

This came about in consultation with the elite stars, many of whom have won the race before. They made it clear that the unique nature of the Berg Marathon means that by the time the race starts in a group start at Bridgetown for the third day, the outcome of the race is often decided, and the final stages are a procession in group formation to the finish.

The bridge prizes have the capacity to shake that all up. The tactics in a big bunch racing at the front will take on a whole new dimension. And a top paddler, who has suffered a minor setback, has a way to get back into contention by simply winning a few bridge-prize hotspots.

Velddrif build-up

Once the race leaves Paarl, it has triggered a huge amount of interest, particularly given the big names that will be pushing to the front of the race. From then on the focus is online and on social media, as the thousands of paddling fans around the world follow updates on how the men’s and women’s races are progressing.

The next build-up of crowds will be at the finish at Velddrif on Saturday 6 July when the reverse-order start will see the slower paddler arriving at roughly the same time as the lead bunch powers into the finish after the last portage at Oordraplek.

So who will be crowned the champion of the 61st Berg?

Defending champion Andy Birkett won’t be there to try and win the title again, as he will be representing South Africa at the brand-new marathon event at the World Games in the USA.

But the shadow that will loom large over the seeded men’s A batch at the start will be that of the eleven times champion Hank McGregor. A die-hard fan of the Berg, he is hungry at 43 to win it again. For McGregor, who has just been named in the SA Marathon team to the worlds in Portugal at the end of September, the Berg is an essential training base for the rest of his racing year.

That has rubbed off on a young protégée of his from the MacSquad that trains at Blue Lagoon in Durban, Hamish Lovemore. Still an u-23 paddler, he is a close friend and paddling partner of McGregor’s and a former winner of the Berg when it was held as a team event in 2019.

He has been the dominant force at the last two SA Marathon Champs and after his third in a thrilling race with Birkett and McGregor last year, he has what it takes to be the man shaking the bottle of bubbly on the podium at the finish.

barking with big dogs

The Cape winter rains came late, but when they came they left the Berg full and feisty. The pre-Berg races on the sections spanning the first two stages were well supported, and saw the strong local challengers proving that they have been putting in the hard yards training for the Berg. Graeme Solomon’s fourth-last year was remarkable, and he has what it takes to return to the Berg podium once again. Staggeringly, he has finished in the top five 15 times.

The women’s race will focus on the return to the Berg of Nix Birkett, while her husband Andy is away competing in America.

She was impressive winning the 2021 race and is eagerly looking forward to the challenge again this year.

That challenge may well come from local stalwart Bianca “Bubbles” Beavitt or the Maties student Tracey Oellermann or rock solid local Melanie van Niekerk. As it has been for many years, the women’s race has been one of the most talked-about contests at the Berg.

Paarl local Luke Stowman showed last year he has what it takes to bark with the big dogs and can confidently aim to be in podium contention come the closing stages of the race.

The icons of the race start in their own “Legends” batch. Giel van Deventer paddled into the history books in 2021 when he completed his 50th Berg, the first person to achieve that remarkable milestone.

This year the evergreen Jannie Malherbe will line up for his 49th Berg medal at the age of 82.

When they get to Velddrif there will be many new milestones as paddlers claim their bottle of KWV brandy for completing these milestone events, like Stellenbosch University Professor Johan van Rooyen, who will be claiming his fifteenth Berg medal.

As Hank McGregor, the man who has won more Berg titles than any other paddler in history, noted wisely: “Every single person who finishes the Berg is a champion. It is the toughest race on the calendar and that medal is the one that is hardest earned.”