Located on the banks of Camps Drift in the heart of Pietermaritzburg, Natal Canoe Club is one of the oldest and proudest canoe clubs in South Africa.
The host of the annual The Unlimited Dusi Canoe Marathon as well as a number of other prominent races, the club has produced numerous internationals, some world champions and generation after generation of elite paddlers that have become the benchmark for marathon racing.
On 22nd December 1951 eight men set off from Pietermaritzburgs Alexandra Park on the first Canoe Marathon to Durban. They were: Ian Player, Miles Brokensha, Ernie Pearce, John Naude, Basil Halford, Willie Potgieter, Fred Schmidt and Denis Vorster.
These eight explorers did not know it at the time, but their adventure would one day become the world famous, Dusi Canoe Marathon.