Unsupported DUSI Canoe Marathon 2020

‘It was F@##@king Epic!
Strap on a helmet, clench that grip on your paddle and enjoy the show: How we did 150km in 3 days!
How and Why?
With our Orange River Source to Sea expedition at the end of the year, I thought it would be a good idea to do the Dusi Canoe Marathon unsupported to try and simulate some of the circumstances that we may experience on the Orange. I suggested to Chris that we do the Dusi as a training camp in preparation for our mammoth 2350km trip at the end of the year. Chris thought it was a great idea, so we entered!
We knew the Dusi Canoe Marathon was going to be extremely hard, so I got Chris into CrossFit classes where we focused a lot on getting our legs strong for the insane portages over mountainous terrain. We both knew it was going to be no easy feat with fully loaded boats weighing 50kg each, containing all the provisions and equipment that we would need for an unsupported trip. Everyone doing the race couldn’t believe that we were doing the trip in Vagabond Plastic Sit on Tops, as the boats are much heavier and slower than your standard Fiberglass Dusi racing boats. Our reasoning was simple, these were the boats that we were going to use on the Orange. They have incredible storage space meaning we can go unsupported for multiple days at a time. They are also much stronger and can go down much bigger rapid!
Coming closer to the expedition date, Chris was getting extremely nervous as he had injured his back in late December. He was worried that it would flare up on the portages and would result in him not being able to finish. This caused Chris to do a lot of homework on Google Earth, studying the sections of river around the portages. We both decided that we would paddle around everything we could!

[@Olympic_TryAthlete]

Would love to see those Vagabonds on the Salmon River in Idaho.