Gibbs fails in Dusi quest
From our reporter on the scene: Glenn Weldon
Had a beer with the Duzi warriors on Saturday evening and the war stories were flying around Billy the Bums as it has been said that this years Duzi has to be the biggest and nastiest yet where all the rapids were bearing their teeth.
Day
2 was nearly postponed because the water level was so high, but they decided
to go ahead anyway.
So
even though the weather was in the favour of the paddlers, the times were fast
and furious and the casualties were the worst yet reported in the history of
this event.
Unfortunately
I wasnt able to get down to the river for a few action photos this time due to
work constraints, but managed to get a scoop on the race from our weary
entrants on Sat night.
All
those who favoured the underdogs Stubbs and Lawson will be pleased to know
that their bet was a safe one as they crossed the finish line on Day three
with 30 minutes in the bag on team Gibbs and Geyves.
Both
teams reportedly had a fast, clean day 1 and finished relatively unscathed.
Day 2 however began sorting the men from the boys as the water pumped its way
through the gnarliest rapids ever and began claiming victims left, right and
centre (including the race leaders at that stage).
"A
momentary lapse of concentration nearly cost us the race...." -
Gibbs........ As team Gibbs and Geyves took a bumpy swim on Confluence rapid
and wrapped their green machine around a rock. It took them 1hour 30mins to
fix their boat up with twigs and duct tape which managed to limp them home to
the end of Day 2. This is where team Stubbs and Lawson took the gap and put
some big time between them and finished comfortably ahead of Gibbs and Geyves.
Day
3 and Gibbs and Geyves had their boat repaired overnight and returned with an
awesome time of 3:15, but it wasnt enough to claim the title, even though
Stubbs and Lawson put in some quality swimming training for Lawson's Iron Man
on day three, they still managed a respectable time and finished the race on
top.
Well
done Stubbs and Lawson.
cheers.
Weldon