50 Years of Umko 1966 - 2016 1966 - 2016 | Page 38

A Tribute to the river, A Salute to the Organisers and
Two Wishes - by Dave Biggs

The Umko Marathon - what a unique canoe race winds its way through
this beautiful deep pristine valley often lined with red cliffs and wild fig
trees. How privileged we paddlers are!
As all Umko vets know the untamed river is never predictable. On a
low river the race becomes a serious enduro adventure through a valley
of a thousand hills, whereas in flood conditions the river turns into a
non-stop brown wave train and is definitely not for the faint-hearted!
(Far bigger rapids than Lava Falls on the Colorado!).
I personally miss the old format with rapids such as Mpompomani,
the Waterfall side shute which is shootable on a medium water level,
Whirlpool and of course Gully and No-Name Rapid, but the new
format is a winner with good roads and the great Hella Hella campsite
as compensation.
Finally, the race would never be what it is today without the dedicated
organisers, timekeepers and world-class caterers! We paddlers salute
you!
Two wishes for the race would be:
- To see more white-water boats on this special white-water river;
- That paddlers and organisers support the late Ian Player in his
efforts to promote the Umkomaas river and its catchment area as a
wilderness area for future generations.

Ladies of the Umko

A short fun ‘race’ of mixed doubles was held way back in 1973, long before
ladies were officially “allowed” to paddle! Paddlers took their wives and
girlfriends from No.8 to around Staebraes.

the boat. We were listed as M Boshoff and J Bentel with just (L) next to our
names - no mention of a woman’s category on the results list.
They only allowed us to enter on condition that a man accompanied us the
whole way! Pete Zietsman and Martin Loewenstein were our chaperones.
Well, up to rapid No.1-and-a-half on day one anyway. There they broke
the nose of their canoe and had some serious repairs to do. After waiting
patiently for quite some time they suggested we carry on and they would
catch up to us.
We had our own little problem later on day one - our steering system
snapped. A passing canoeist lent me a pair of vice grips which I used to
secure the pedals to the attachment on the side of the boat. I had to remove
my shoes and steer tentatively with tippy toes as the vice grips kept slipping
off and had to be replaced time and again. Martin and Pete didn’t catch up
and finished much later that day.
Jenny and I paddled on our own the next day as well. We had an
uneventful trip, no swims on either day. The race finished at Goodenough’s
weir, where we finished 102nd overall out of 201 paddlers, the first women
to complete an Umko on our own”.
The first lady we could find a record completing the Umko in a K1 was
junior Lorna Oliver in 1992. Antje Manfroni did it in 2005 in a Sabre. Patricia
Stannard and Diana Rietz have also done it but - as with all Umko history!
- details are sketchy. Writing about the relatively recent history of freestyle
paddling Steffan Hughes in Paddler e-zine writes “kayaking is not a sport
that records its history well”. Amen to that! Here’s a (very) incomplete list
of pioneering ladies:
Name

First race

Completed

Pennefather Jane

1983

Whitton Colleen

1983

10+

Boshoff Marlene

1983

4

Bentel Jenny

1983

Grewar Linda

1986

2

Germiquet Debbie

1992

13

Manfroni Antje

1993

16

Meakin Penny

1995

11

Wiggett Robyn

1998

4

Rawlinson Alice

2002

3

Rietz Diana

2004

10

Patricia Stannard

2004

10

Names & info missing? Go to theumko.com and we’ll update

Posky Paul and Jane Nairn in ‘73 - Social Race

In 1982 mixed teams were allowed to paddle officially for the first time.
Colleen Whitton was the first and only lady entry we know of, but she didn’t
make the overnight stop. In 1983 thirteen ladies in mixed doubles finished
the race for the first time. First home was Jane Pennefather with Rory. The
first ladies to do it on their own were Marlene Boshoff and Jenny Bentel in
a K2 in 1986.
Marlene recounts: In 1986 Jenny and I were the only women to paddle on
our own and we became the first women to do the Umko without a man in

UMKO 50 Years

Stalwart Antje Manfroni, 16-Umko veteran writes: “I did my first
Umko in the early ‘90s with Stan Freiman in a K2. I was a fresh arrival from
Germany and had never encountered such a river with that size rapids … in
fact I did not know that it was possible to paddle it in K1s and K2s instead
of white water boats. Stan suggested taking me down in a double. I agreed,
and we drove down to Umko. So I didn’t have an “intro” to the river via
stories or tripping, but I guess ignorance can be bliss as it eliminated any
fear!
As we arrived Stan realised we had a few vital pieces missing and so
we went scouting around for those, missing our start. I was getting quite
38