The massive strides being made in the Canoeing Development Programme at Natal Canoe Club (NCC) have been yielding fantastic results. This was underlined recently when the NCC Development Race, which is sponsored by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation, won the award for the Best One-day Race at the annual KwaZulu-Natal Canoeing Union Awards.

With strong support from the Department of Sport, Thuhu Manyathi, one of the first group of paddlers to become a part of development in canoeing, has spearheaded the hugely successful development programme at NCC, which has so far introduced the sport to over 3 000 children and has also taught those children life skills.

Especially in the younger age groups, members of the NCC Development Team have begun to excel and Manyathi believes that it is only a matter of time before the programme produces a winner of the Dusi Canoe Marathon, South Africa's most iconic canoe marathon, which is put on annually by NCC.

The KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation Mrs Ntombikayise Sibhidla-Saphetha said that she was pleased that the partnership with the NCC is beginning to yield positive results. "This development programme has played a significant role in introducing youth from township and rural areas to canoeing. It has also dispelled the notion that canoeing is an elite sport.

"The Department will continue to support to programme and to ensure that it grows from strength to strength." 

The NCC Development Team organises the NCC Development Race, which is a Dusi Canoe Marathon qualifier. "It's an achievement! It's a positive thing for the NCC Development Team. They know that we are doing something right. We are still learning how to organise a race and other stuff, but winning the award came very quickly," Manyathi said of winning the KNCU Best One-day Race Award.

"The programme is producing more than paddlers. It is producing people who can grow the sport. We have Sam Phungula, who has been doing a lot of development work. Development is expanding unbelievably. You can see the children, everyone wants to paddle at the moment. I think NCC is doing a fantastic job."

"I was very excited when I first found out about it, and we managed to do it on only our second [NCC Development] Race that we hosted," Phungula said of winning the award.

"We development guys will be able to put this on our CVs since this race has won an award. People are going to know about it. It's an achievement we can keep forever."

Phungula said the impact that the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation has made with their investment in the Development Programme was life-changing. "It's very fulfilling," he shared.

"Development is like being helped to grow to a point where you are growing by yourself and I believe it is in many of us now in this programme; we're getting there, we're starting to grow on our own. The Development Programme has come a long way. It is helping a lot."

Reflecting on the path his paddling career has taken, NCC Head of Development Thuthu Manyathi said: "When I started, it was so different to now. Before we didn't have equipment, it was only because of a love for the sport that I am still paddling so many years later. Now they [the development paddlers] have everything, but the way they are responding is positive. That motivates me to go harder and to make sure that I am always there to guide them all the way because if someone loves the sport I want to share whatever experience I have."

"Having paddled for so long, and seeing the youngsters doing so well, is a fine achievement. To see the way that development has taken off, I'm chuffed because I know that one day someone from the NCC Development Programme will win the Dusi."

Manyathi praised the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Sport and Recreation, saying they had played an integral role in the success of the Development Programme. "To have the Department of Sports and Recreation on our side has helped a lot because we can't do without equipment. We have world class equipment," he explained.

"We don't have excuses not to perform. Because of them, life is easier for everyone. Even coming to the gym at NCC, you know you have equipment that will serve you well. You know you have your own boat and paddle, shoes and splash-cover, we've got everything."

A Dusi Rat, with 17 completed Dusis to his name, Manyathi recently teamed up with fellow NCC Development Team member Mfaniseni "Alfred" Nyambose to take on Spain's world famous Sella Descent.

"It's one of the biggest events I have ever raced. It's huge, lots of countries are involved. It was something new to me," he enthused.

"The support alongside the river is unbelievable. It's packed, maybe about 20 000 people."

Despite breaking their rudder only 500 metres into the race, Manyathi and Nyambose soldiered on and did themselves proud by finish 263rd in a field of thousands. "That's not what we were aiming for, but we were there for the experience. It was not easy, the boat was not turning, so it was very difficult, but we finished the race," Manyathi said.

"It wasn't a bad result at all, but we should have finished in the top 50 if the rudder was okay."