New approach for Dusi star
Birkett is spreading his training around the country at the expense of traditional training on the Dusi race course.
Birkett has come off a solid 2014 base that included successes at the Berg and Breede Canoe Marathons, the Sella Descent in Spain (third) and the thrilling Hansa Fish in Cradock where he narrowly lost to world champ Hank McGregor.
The EuroSteel athlete has stuck close to a tried and trusted Dusi training formula for much of his successful Dusi career but this year he is set to break that mould after planning a summer of training around the country.
He will join a squad training camp in Plettenberg Bay in December before moving to Underberg in the New Year ahead of the N3TC Drak Challenge for his favoured training camp at the high altitude venue that assures him of clean water.
He has gambled by spending less time in the Mngeni and Msundusi River valleys, where most of the successful Dusi paddlers of years gone by have aimed to hone their skills.
"It's such a difficult call," says Birkett. "During the summer there is usually so little water in the river that you don't actually spend that much time paddling and then conditions are usually quite different come race day. Having said that it looks like it is going to be a low Dusi in the current drought so maybe some time on a low river will be useful.”
Despite making the race more arduous, Birkett relishes the prospect of racing on low, technically demanding rivers.
"I actually enjoy a low river!" says the EuroSteel star. "It takes a special kind of athlete to be successful on a low river. Jason Graham (Birkett's double Dusi K2 winning partner) is phenomenal on a low river and I learnt so much from training with him a couple of years back. Lance Kime is definitely one to watch if we are in for a low Dusi next year though!”
Birkett spent the entire 2013/14 summer with Sbonelo Khwela (EuroSteel/Red Bull) as they plotted their successful campaign to win the 2014 Dusi K2 title however the two friends now find themselves as adversaries as they each plot their individual assault on the 2015 K1 crown.
Birkett has realised that much of his summer training plans don't involve any fellow training partners. He plans to approach his K2 partner to join him for a few training sessions at his base at Shongweni dam.
"Sbonelo is running so well at the moment that I want to join him for a few hill climb sessions. It's a shock tactic because on current form he would beat me in a Dusi by twenty minutes!"
Birkett has three K2 titles to go with his solitary K1 title and he is eager to add another singles scalp in 2015 to make up for the one that got away in 2013.
Having followed Khwela home on stage one, Birkett charged into the lead early on in the second stage before a swim at the gnarly Thombi Rapid effectively ended his title bid.
Birkett’s misfortune saw Khwela return to the lead, which he held until a mistake at the Pumphouse Weir then ended his title race and a determined and steady Lance Kime snapped up gratefully to clinch his maiden Dusi title.
Birkett's greater training priorities have also changed in recent years since his successful foray into the midyear flatwater marathon season that saw him win the Under-23 marathon world title in 2013 and earned him a place in the South African senior team to the 2014 Marathon World Championships in Oklahoma City in September.
"I love marathon racing and preparing for the SA Champs and hopefully the Worlds in 2015 will be a priority for me. The training for that is so different to the traditional Dusi training where we normally lose a lot of weight, so it has become a bit of a balancing act for me now," Birkett said.
The 64th edition of the Dusi Canoe Marathon takes place from Camps Drift in Pietermaritzburg to Blue Lagoon in Durban from Thursday 19 to Saturday 21 February 2015.
(File Photo: Anthony Grote)
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