Berg River Canoe Marathon

Cape Epic – the tougher the better for endurance athletes

Eight days, 800 kilometres and some seriously steep ravines – this is the Absa Cape Epic, one of the most extreme things a person can do with a bicycle. The hors catégorie event is the most televised mountain bike stage race in the world. Each year a new route is chosen, as difficult and as beautiful as the last.

Only the toughest survive the Berg River canoe marathon

The Berg River Marathon is probably the most gruelling way to spend four days in mid-winter. The canoe race sets off from Paarl and ends 240 kilometres away in Velddrif, in the Western Cape. Throw in howling wind, driving rain and lots of portage, and you've got a recipe for extreme sport.

Development paddlers ready for tough Berg

The four-day Berg River Canoe Marathon, an event regarded by some as the toughest of its kind in the world, takes place in the Western Cape next week. Among the contestants will be an impressive development team from the Computershare Change a Life Academy.

Freedom Challenge tests athletes’ limits

While most people are tucked up warmly indoors during winter, a group of dedicated extreme athletes is out riding the Freedom Challenge. The mountain bike race takes riders more than 2 000 kilometres across some of South Africa's harshest but most beautiful scenery.

South Africa is world’s endurance race capital

Some of the world's most extreme races are held in South Africa, where elite athletes – and ordinary people – pit themselves against the unforgiving elements and huge distances. Perhaps the most well-known is the Comrades Marathon, a gruelling 90km run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

First-time winners in Berg Marathon

After four days and 240 kilometres of paddling, Lance King claimed his maiden win in South Africa's Berg River Canoe Marathon, while Jenna Ward picked up her first win in the women's race in Velddrif in the Western Cape on Sunday.

McGregor paddles to ninth Berg victory

Hank McGregor triumphed over a classy field and atrocious weather on the final day to claim a record ninth title in the Berg River Canoe Marathon at Velddrif in the Western Cape on the weekend.

McGregor paddles to eighth Berg victory

Hank McGregor romped to a record eighth victory in South Africa's Berg River Canoe Marathon on the weekend. Michele Eray dominated the women's event to win her maiden title in the tough four-day race from Paarl to Velddrif in the Western Cape.

McGregor dominates at Surfski WC

Hank McGregor snagged his third Dunlop Surfski World Cup title in Durban on Sunday, comfortably beating a powerful field and taming an uncooperative flat ocean to win the 26-kilometre race and the R40 000 winner's prize.

2010: South Africa’s watersport winners

Blessed with a beautiful coastline almost 3 000 kilometres long, South Africa is a watersports playground - and in 2010 the country's watersport athletes shone in a variety of disciplines. Brad Morgan looks back on the year.