Paddler's Guide to the Dusi Canoe Marathon Race Rules 15+ 2026

River ratings are part of the national federation's safety regulations. Your rating shows what grade of river you are qualified to race. The Dusi entry criteria describe them like this:

For the Dusi, South African entrants need an AR rating. A CR-rated paddler may, on special request, paddle in the back of a K2 with a partner who has completed at least 5 Dusis.

Under rule 13 of the 2026 Dusi race rules:

• Lifejacket (PFD): you must wear a personal flotation device for the whole race. It must comply with the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) safety regulations and conform to EN ISO 12402-5 (Level 50).
• Buoyancy: every boat must have at least 10 litres of buoyancy fixed or tied into both the front and the back.
• Race bibs: if one bib is provided, wear it on the front of your lifejacket, uncovered. If two are provided, wear them front and back (rule 6.2.3).

Your fitness to continue: any medical officer or official may order you not to carry on if they think continuing would endanger your health. The organisers may also tell paddlers to withdraw at any point if they judge it unsafe to continue.

If you break the safety rules, you may be refused a start, or disqualified if you have already started.

Risk: the rules warn that the Dusi is raced over dangerous terrain, in water of potentially poor quality. All entrants sign an indemnity when they enter, and paddlers are encouraged to paddle within their own known skill level.

Minimum weights (rule 7.1):

What counts (rule 7.2): the weight includes seats, pumps, buoyancy, stickers, handles and other permanent fixtures. It excludes paddles, lifejackets, splash covers, juice bottles and trippers, GPS units and other non-permanent equipment. Boats are emptied and pumped dry before weighing. Loose or adjustable weights aren't allowed.

• Items not clearly fixed permanently are removed before weighing. That includes anything held on with Velcro, or with duct tape if it clearly wasn't meant to be permanent, and loose items under seats.
• Nothing is allowed for items that came loose or were lost during the day, except a lost seat.

Checks (rules 7.3 to 7.5): keeping your boat at the right weight for the whole race is your responsibility. Boats are not checked before the start, but the official scale is available from 09:00 to 12:00 on registration day. At the end of each day, the top 5 men's and women's boats and the top 3 junior boys' and girls' boats are weighed, and other boats are weighed at random.

Penalties (rules 7.9 to 7.11), applied on each day the boat is underweight:

Boat numbers: boats must be numbered in line with the national federation's regulations, and the numbers must not be covered by ropes or anything else (rule 8.7).

Compulsory paddling (rule 1.14): where the rules say a section is "compulsory paddling", you must be in the water. You may paddle up to an obstacle and portage around it, but you must put back in immediately below it. You may not shorten the course by portaging.

General portage rules:

• For safety, weirs, rapids and obstacles may be portaged on either side (rule 1.10).
• Carry or drag your boat on portages. You may not fit skegs, wheels or anything similar to help drag it (rule 8.5).
• Finish the race in the same boat, and in a crew boat with the same partner, unless the substitution rule is invoked (rule 8.1).
• Boats may only be repaired in the designated boat repair area at Msinsi Resort, Inanda Dam. There are no repair facilities in the valley, but boats may be taken out of the valley for repair (rules 8.2 to 8.4).

Key 2026 portage rules by day:

• Day 1: compulsory portage from Bishopstowe Hall to the Campbells put-in, crossing Campbells Bridge to put in on the right bank. Compulsory portage over Guinea Fowl to Geoff's Road. Compulsory paddling from Geoff's Road to Dusi Bridge, except the Cabbage Tree portage, and compulsory paddling around Finger Neck.
• Day 2: Dusi Bridge Weir must be portaged. There is an optional portage within 200 m of the river from Confluence to Gauging Weir. Ngumeni portage is compulsory, using only existing paths or the road, with no new paths cut. Compulsory paddling to the finish, except Thombi and Hippo rapids.
• Day 3: compulsory paddling to the dam wall, then a compulsory portage on the left bank to the bridge. After that, compulsory paddling to the finish at Blue Lagoon, though the Pump House Weirs may be portaged, and major rapids may be portaged for safety in high water.

Water safety marshals won't tell you which line to take, but you must obey their safety instructions without question.

You are responsible for your seconds. Under the 2026 Dusi race rules (rules 1 and 3 to 5), if they break the rules you risk a time penalty or disqualification.

General rules for seconds:

• Normal traffic laws apply everywhere. Obey officials' and marshals' instructions, signs and barrier tape at all times.
• Cars may park only on the left-hand side of the road, and may only travel downstream, unless a marshal says otherwise.
• Seconds and their vehicles may never block driveways or portages.
• Every seconding vehicle must have your second sticker permanently fixed to the windscreen. No seconding is allowed from a vehicle without one.
• Seconds or vehicles found on roads or in areas where they're not allowed can earn their paddler a time penalty or disqualification.
• Sponging is allowed on the head and neck only.
• Penalty for minor offences: for minor offences by your seconds on Days 1 and 2, you may be relegated to the last batch on Days 2 and 3. Serious offences can be penalised more heavily.

Examples of no-go areas (2026):

• Day 1: no seconding on the D389 at Campbells; no vehicles or seconds on Geoff's Road or at its put-in; no seconds between Campbells Bridge and Broken Bridge.
• Day 2: no motor vehicles across the Marianni-Foley causeway from west to east (on foot or mountain bike only); no seconding on the left bank from Marianni-Foley to the Ngumeni crest, or on the uphill slope of the Ngumeni portage.
• Day 3: seconding only on the right bank from the bridge below the dam wall to the N2 Bridge.

Day 1 start procedure (rule 20, 2026 times):

From the moment you are called up to the start line, you are under starter's orders. The starter may start as soon as the rows are straight. Seeded row paddlers get stickers showing their row and draw position.

Start penalties (rule 21):

• Line up behind the buoys or markers, leaving clear space in front of your nose. If your nose is past the line when the race starts, you get a 2-minute penalty.
• A false start is starting to run or paddle after "Ready" but before "Go". Trying to start before any instruction is an unfair start.
• First false or unfair start: warning. Second: 2-minute penalty. Third: disqualification. A disqualified paddler must leave the water and course immediately.

The other batches are allowed onto the water once the batch ahead has started, and are called up to a single line. On Day 3, the later batches start on the water from behind the start line.

Classes (rule 12): you can enter K1, K2, K3, K4 or White Water/Touring/SUP. Touring includes all K3s, K4s and plastic kayaks, and touring boats may have rudders. Touring Canadians are open canoes paddled with single-blade paddles. SUPs are part of the Touring class unless the organisers make them a separate class.

Main class: this alternates each year between K1 and K2. 2026 was a K2 year.

• Day 1's first batch is for main-class boats only.
• Boats outside the main class get no early batch starts on Days 2 and 3.
• No gold or silver medals or prizes go to boats outside the main class, except in special categories.

Day 1 (rules 19 to 22): batches are set by the Dusi Seeding Rules, based on results in advertised seeding races. Places within the A Batch rows are drawn at random.

• The 2026 schedule started A Batch (20 seeded men's K2s) at 06:00, followed by further seeded men's batches and D Batch for seeded women's K2s.
• After that came the charity batch, the 40+ and 20+ Dusi batches, then general batches of up to 30 boats.
• Boats in the women's D Batch may not ride the wash of boats from other batches on Day 1.

Day 2 (rule 23): batched on Day 1 finish times. K2s within 60 minutes of the leader start in elapsed time from 06:00, then batches from 07:05. No K1s start in elapsed time or A Batch.

Day 3 (rule 24): batched on overall times from Days 1 and 2. Men's and women's K2s within 60 minutes of their leaders start in elapsed time from 07:00, then batches from 08:05.

Batch lists are published on dusi.co.za and the KNCU Race Information WhatsApp group. Numbers of batches and boats can change with entries.

Under the 2026 Dusi race rules:

Protests (rule 27):

• Submit the protest in writing to a member of the race organising committee within 1 hour of the last competitor involved in the incident finishing or retiring that day. The race committee may allow longer.
• Include a R500 fee, which may be refunded if the protest is upheld.
• You must stay at the race venue until the race committee or jury has heard the protest and given you permission to leave the valley. They may let you leave as long as you stay available by phone or a virtual meeting. If you aren't present for the hearing, the protest may be dismissed.

Who decides (rule 26): the Race Committee, made up of at least 3 named members. It hears protests and disputes between competitors, hears officials' reports of rule breaches by paddlers or seconders, and decides on penalties up to disqualification. You are notified in writing, in person, or by phone, SMS, WhatsApp or email, with brief reasons.

Appeals (rule 28): you can appeal a Race Committee decision to the Race Jury. Submit it in writing to a member of the organising committee within 1 week of being notified, with a R1,000 fee, which may be refunded if the appeal is upheld.

The race is run under the ICF Marathon Racing Rules and the national federation's (PSA) rules and regulations. Where they conflict, the Dusi race rules take precedence.

The 2026 Dusi race rules set these strict cut-offs:

The race rules set no fixed cut-off time for Day 1 (Bishopstowe to Dusi Bridge).

Safety: the organisers may tell paddlers to withdraw at any point if, in their sole discretion, it is unsafe to carry on (rule 1.11). Medical officers or officials may order a competitor to stop if continuing would endanger their health (rule 13.4).

Under the 2026 Dusi race rules:

• Registration (rule 15): all competitors must register before Day 1. In 2026 registration was on the Wednesday before the race (18 February), from 09:00 to 18:00, at the Pietermaritzburg Cricket Oval in Alexandra Park.
• Each race day: check in at your designated boat pound at least 30 minutes before your start time. Batch stickers are issued at the pounds. Don't go onto the water until you are told to.
• Rules meeting (rule 16): paddlers seeded in A, B and C batches on Day 1, the top 10 seeded women's boats and the top 5 seeded junior boats must attend the rules briefing. Not attending is no excuse if you face disciplinary action. If you can't attend, give written notice at least 24 hours beforehand. The organisers may accept or reject it.
• Boat weights: the official scale is open from 09:00 to 12:00 on registration day, so you can check your boat.
• Retiring (rule 8.6): if you retire, you must tell the organisers by phone or WhatsApp within 30 minutes.
• Doping control: SAIDS may test paddlers. Official functions such as prize-giving and media interviews come first, and you are then responsible for going to the test.
• Drones: the route is a restricted fly zone under SACAA control. No unauthorised drones are allowed anywhere along it.