One-day-dusi redefines human endurance

Just when you thought it was safe to say we were tough, they come up with another extreme event.

Those of us who paddled, portaged and swam our way through the Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon a month ago had every reason to be proud of our strength and endurance.

Unless your name is Peggy Sue Khumalo and you were given a guided tour of the Dusi valley by the talented Oscar Chalupsky the Dusi experience was a gruelling one to say the least.

With temperatures hovering around 30 degrees, oppressive humidity, a river swollen with recent torrential rains and an accidental mouthful of river water containing enough ecoli bugs to start a major cholera epidemic, this year's Dusi was a particularly tough challenge.

The only merciful aspect of the Dusi is that its challenge is spread over three days.

The mind is able to concentrate on the task ahead and only deals with each third of the race as each new day dawns.

Happily the third day is the shortest of the three and the end is a welcome sight.

Even so,it was very stiff, tired and scratched bodies that paddled across the last stretch of Inanda dam at the start of the third day, and it was stiff, tired, scratched and sunburnt bodies that paddled across the finish line at Blue Lagoon at the end. I am certain many quietly swore to themselves: "Never, ever again."

So it was with total amazement that we read of the madness of the 50 or so paddlers who participated in the Dusi-in-one-day challenge that happened last week.

This insane event is in its second or third year, but this year seems to have established itself firmly in the South African calendar of extreme events.

For the record, the Edmonds brothers won in a record time of around eight hours. There are very few rules in the event.

Competitors set off before dawn and simply make their way down the Dusi and Umgeni valleys to Blue Lagoon. Where the Dusi has compulsory portages and paddling sections, the Dusi-in-one method is to get there however or whichever way you prefer.

I did think about the possibility of teaming up with a strong Comrades runner, carrying the lightest possible canoe and running straight down the Comrades route. It would be more than possible to get to the finish in around seven-and-a-half hours.

The Comrades route is above the two valleys and I suppose a straight run would not quite be in the spirit of the event. At that point I dismissed the insane notion which I had of entering.

It just did not seem possible to paddle exhausted across Inanda Dam (the end of Dusi's day two) and then keep going.

Where would I find the energy to paddle through the pounding Umzinyathi rapid, or Little John, or five Fingers, or even to portage over Burma Road when one had already done two days of the Dusi with no rest.

When I first heard of the event a couple of years ago I dismissed it immediately as a moment of madness that would soon fail.

But like other South African extreme events it has established itself. We have the Iron Man triathlon and the Washie 100 miler road race. Now we have the Dusi-in-one-day.

These will always be smaller events with small fields because the standard events from which they are born are tough enough.

Only a few are prepared to dive into the realm of the insane.

It is important that they do it because it shows us all that the limit of human endurance is really a mental barrier. It helps us realise that we can still push ourselves further and that the weariness we feel at the end of the first stage of the Dusi is both real and imaginary.

Of course we are tired. We push ourselves through the day. But with a slightly slower pace and a mind programmed to cope with a greater challenge we can astonish ourselves and others.

If the cause is honourable enough we can do anything that our minds can conceive. Now we know that Ian Player's first Dusi in the 1950s was a barrier-breaking achievement that has seen us stretch our imagination from week-long adventure to a magnificent eight-hour race.

In the same way running to raise funds for cancer research, Paul Selby ran two Comrades Marathons in one day in medal-winning times.

Where will it stop?

Only where we want it to and only for as long as our minds remain challenged.