Latest News

Registration Venue Has Changed
Registration will NOT take place at the Paarl Canoe Clubhouse as in previous years.
Registration Venue:
Die Platteland (Old Paarl Rugby Clubhouse)
Located upstream on the opposite side of the Market Street Bridge from the Paarl Canoe Club.

2024 Berg River Marathon Champion Tom Lovemore has unfinished business with the four-day classic next week.

The 2026 Berg River Canoe Marathon on July 15-18 will feature a classic youth versus experience battle with 14-time race winner Hank McGregor and 2024 champion Tom Lovemore facing off against rising star Joshua Glyn-Cuthbert.

At just 22 years old, Stellenbosch University’s fourth‑year electrical engineering student Joshua Glyn‑Cuthbert has emerged as a serious contender for this year’s Berg River Marathon title.

Just a couple more days until entries for the 2026 Berg River Canoe Marathon open and those paddlers with the fastest fingers get some big discounts. Entries for the 2026 event will open on Wednesday, March 25, on the PaddleSport SA entry portal (https://paddler.paddlesportsa.com/) with an “Opening Week Special” and some attractive discounts for those […]

VELDDRIF – Hank McGregor, 47, duly swept home on Saturday for an incredible 14th Berg River Canoe Marathon win, maintaining his solid 10-minute lead as he paddled to the finish of the four-day event in Velddrif with teammate Siseko Ntondini on his wave. Second place, a mere 24 seconds ahead of Ntondini, went to 53-year-old […]

VELDDRIF – Both Jenna Nisbet and Hank McGregor emerged unscathed from the long third stage of the 2025 Berg River Canoe Marathon on Friday, and with big leads going into the final day it will take something dramatic for them not to claim their respective victories on Saturday. 47-year-old McGregor edged out his fellow “old […]

PAARL – As Hank McGregor built an almost unassailable lead on Day 2 of the Berg River Canoe Marathon on Thursday, Jenna Nisbet was capitalising on a “lucky mistake” to take control of the women’s race. 13-time winner McGregor added to his already big overnight lead on the shortened 30km stage from Gouda to Bridgetown, […]

PAARL – Hank McGregor quickly stamped his authority on the 2025 Berg River Canoe Marathon and after building a massive lead of almost six minutes on Day 1 on Wednesday, the 47-year-old multiple World Champion is already strongly favoured to claim his 14th title. While McGregor was cruising to his big overnight lead in the […]

PAARL – Finishing the Berg River Canoe Marathon is by any standard a significant achievement, but there is one paddler in this year’s event whose participation will be extraordinary. If Jannie Malherbe makes it through the four days from Paarl to Velddrif on Wednesday to Saturday, in what promises to be cold and wet conditions, […]

VELDDRIF – The 2025 Berg River Canoe Marathon is shaping up to be a race for the ages with two of the event’s legends facing up against the new generation. Tom Lovemore may have been living in the shadow of his world-beating brother Hamish over the past 18 months, but the 26-year-old from Knysna carved […]

The Stellenbosch-based Maties Canoe Club is leading the pack in terms of the largest club entry countrywide this year, with at least 17 paddlers committed to starting the 63rd Berg River Marathon in Paarl next week. The group, charged mainly by the  “Turbo Toppies” as all 50-year-old plus paddlers at the Maties Canoe Club are known, […]

Heinrich Schloms and Stephanie von der Heyde emerged as the Western Cape Canoe Union river champions for 2025 when they won the men’s and women’s races respectively at the Hermon to Gouda event on the Berg River at the weekend. Schloms was an easy winner by ten minutes over Divieano Pietersen, with first under 23, […]

The focus of the 2025 Berg River K1 Canoe Series is to encourage participation in the Western Cape Berg River Races. Just completing the 2025 Berg River Marathon provides an opportunity for paddlers from outside the Western Cape to participate in the series and be part of the lucky draw for the Salt Kayaks K1 […]

The long paddle to the Berg River Marathon starts on February 1 when the West Coast Canoe Challenge kicks off the Western Cape river season – and paddlers have some exciting incentives to tempt them to an early start to their preparations in 2025. The 12th annual Appliance World West Coast Canoe Challenge (WCCC) in […]

VELDDRIF – Knysna’s Tom Lovemore duly secured his first Berg River Canoe Marathon win when he swept across the line ahead of the leading bunch at the finish of the 57-kilometre Stage 4 in a sunny Velddrif on Saturday afternoon. In doing so, Lovemore denied 52-year old Robbie Herreveld – who won the event six […]

ZOUTKLOOF – Knysna’s Tom Lovemore will take a narrow advantage into the 57km final stage of the 2024 Berg River Canoe Marathon after he edged out local veteran Robbie Herreveld in the final dash for the line for the third day in a row on Friday. After the long 75km Queen Stage from Bridgetown to […]

BRIDGETOWN – The wily old master and the young gun worked together to turn the 2024 Berg River Canoe Marathon into a two-horse race on the second stage on Thursday. Six-time winner, 52-year-old Velddrif local Robbie Herreveld, and Knysna’s Tom Lovemore started the second stage side by side and then worked together to build a […]

ZONQUASDRIFT – The opening day of the Berg River Canoe Marathon on Wednesday set up a remarkable battle between six-time winner Robbie Herreveld and Tom Lovemore, one of the country’s exciting young prospects aiming for his biggest canoeing victory. Lovemore won the 62km opening stage from Paarl to Zonquasdrift, but it was a lot more […]

PAARL – A bunch of relative young guns will line up with the hope of starting a new era of domination at the 2024 Berg River Canoe Marathon from Wednesday to Saturday this week. The two paddlers to beat in the race from Paarl to Velddrif look like being last year’s runner up Jeremy Maher […]