[burmanet2-l] Non-political Sports

[dawnstar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: [burmanet2-l] Non-political Sports News Article on Burma

[Sunday Times - South Africa]
To: Julien Moe <moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Cannot these children play their games somewhere else when the freedom
loving people of the land are denied the rights and rituals that belong
to them, and not to these frolicking dandies?

Its a little disrespectful, don't you think? And once again, plays into
the hands of the generals and their propogandists showing what a great
delightful wonderful country it is. Isn't it a pity it has such a bad
reputation?

These kids should go home or somewhere else to play their freedom games.

dawn star


Julien Moe wrote:
> 
> 24 January 1999
> Sports
> Dreyer leaves Dusi greats gasping on Burma Road
> 
> by: GRANT SHIMMIN
> 
>   AN astounding run over the gruelling Burma Road portage and, to a lesser
> extent, the courage to follow the advice of more experienced paddlers,
> propelled little known Western Cape competitor Martin Dreyer to a stunning
> victory in the Powerade Dusi Canoe Marathon yesterday.Dreyer, 30, competing
> in only his second singles Dusi, powered home a staggering 3min 36sec ahead
> of two-time K1 champion Kevin White, with two more local men, Wayne Volek
> and another former champion, John Edmonds, a further 1:17 and 1:19 back
> respectively.
> Amazingly, at one stage before the paddlers reached Burma Road, less than 90
> seconds covered the first six paddlers and it was anybody's race.
> 
> Kelby Murray, the overnight leader, was in fifth place, 1:16 behind White,
> after taking a swim at Side Shute rapid. Seventeen-year-old Maritzburg
> College pupil Len Jenkins, who eventually finished fifth, was 10 seconds
> behind him.
> 
> That set the scene for dramatic happenings on the heartbreaking slog over
> Burma Road and it was Dreyer who provided the fireworks.
> 
> Taking his boat out of the Umgeni about 23sec behind White, he passed him,
> in the latter's words, "chop chop", before surging up the hill away from the
> chasing pack. By the time he reached the put-in point he had opened up an
> amazing three-and-a-half minute gap over White, with Edmonds in third and
> Volek, the only contender to chance his arm with the rapids rather than go
> over the hill, in fourth. The race was over as a contest.

> 
> "No-one in this field could have stayed with Martin over Burma," said White.
> 
> "We didn't give him enough credit in this race."
> 
> "He must have done a sub-30," added Edmonds of Dreyer's power run. "That
> used to be the standard, but it doesn't happen anymore." Amazingly Dreyer,
> who spent five years as a commercial fisherman in Canada - an option taken
> up, by his own admission, to avoid national service - did not have a
> detailed race plan or an adequate support team.
> 
> At the second-day stop on the Inanda Dam, when he officially lay fourth, but
> was effectively joint second with White and Edmonds, 90 seconds behind
> Murray, he sought advice from fellow competitor Ant Rowan and defending
> singles champion Mark Perrow, not competing this year due to injury, on the
> approach to the third day.
> 
> It was Perrow who convinced him to go for broke and shoot the treacherous
> Top's Needle rapid, just after the portage over the Inanda Dam wall, and the
> Pumphouse Weirs, after the Burma Road put-in. "Mark's advice was to go big
> and I went and shot Top's and the Pumphouse Weirs last night for the first
> time," Murray admitted.
> 
> Perrow explained: "I asked him: 'Do you want to go for a win, or do you want
> to defend your position?' When I asked: 'Who's meeting you on Burma?' and he
> said no-one, I said: 'Okay, I'll meet you there tomorrow,'" explained
> Perrow, who was officially employed by a Johannesburg radio station.
> 
> "He was absolutely frightening going over Burma Road. I've never seen
> anything like it. He charged over there like a bull elephant," Perrow said.
> 
> There will be much speculation over whether Murray might have held on had he
> not fallen out, but White, who had to eat Dreyer's dust, was doubtful. "We
> had made up time on Kelby," said White, who had closed to 45sec before Side
> Shute, with Dreyer just behind him.
> 
> "Martin's running is definitely far better than anyone else's. He's a Danny
> Biggs who can paddle," White added.
> 
> After that drama, there was little tension in the women's race, where Debbie
> Whitton extended a 10-minute lead over Wendy White by six minutes.
> 
> Herman Chalupsky and Derek Macaskill were not extended in securing a
> 55-minute advantage over Oscar Chalupsky and Kaizer Chiefs hero Doctor
> Khumalo in the celebrity event.
> 
> However, there was time for spectators to see the amazing feat of
> 51-year-old Dusi King Graeme Pope-Ellis, who just achieved his personal goal
> of a top-20 finish, finishing a little over 40 minutes behind Dreyer.