The Dusi Canoe Marathon started on 22 December 1951, when eight individuals arranged to canoe from Alexandra Park in Pietermaritzburg to Durban.These eight individuals were Ian Player, Denis Vorster, Miles Brokensha, Fred Schmidt, Ernie Pearce, Basil Halford, John Naudé, and Willie Potgieter. The men had to make their way through the Umsindusi, the Valley of a Thousand Hills and the Umgeni. Ian Player was the only one out of the eight people, who reached the final destination in 6 days, 8 hours and 15 minutes. He went on to publish a book about the development of the Dusi Canoe Marathon in 1964, titled Men, Rivers and Canoes. The Dusi Canoe Marathon is one of the most iconic canoe races in the world, attracting between 1 600 and 2 000 paddlers each year.
22 December 1959
Dusi Canoe Marathon commences
- Updated
- 4 Dec 2019
How we know this
- 01David van Lill, Van Lill’s South African Sports Trivia (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2005), p. 227.
- 02Ian Player, Men, Rivers and Canoes (Empangeni: Echoing Green Press, 2007).
- 03Tatham, N. 2013.The mysterious duo of Marianni and Foley, https://www.gameplanmedia.co.za/dusi/dusi1422.html.
- 04About the Dusi Canoe Marathon, https://web.archive.org/web/20141006072816/https://www.dusi.co.za/about.html.
Last updated · 4 Dec 2019
South African History Online. (2017, February 21). Dusi Canoe Marathon commences. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0122907
South African History Online (2017) 'Dusi Canoe Marathon commences', South African History Online, 21 February. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0122907 (Accessed: 11 October 2026).
South African History Online, Dusi Canoe Marathon commences [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0122907, (accessed 11 October 2026).
"Dusi Canoe Marathon commences." South African History Online, 21 Feb. 2017, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0122907. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.
South African History Online. "Dusi Canoe Marathon commences." South African History Online. February 21, 2017. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0122907.
Also on 22 December
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- 1996Zimbabwe and England draw in a Bulawayo Test Cricket match with England needing one run to win
- 1999Thomas Adolf Florin is found guilty in Windhoek, Namibia, of the gruesome murder of his wife, Monika Florin
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