The funeral of Graeme Pope-Ellis will be held on Friday 25 June at 2pm at Hilton Chapel, Hilton College, Hilton.

Please go to the following site for directions: http://www.hiltoncollege.com/contact/find-us.html
GPS co-ordinates: 29°29'32.21"S 30°18'6.15"E

Please share your thoughts and feelings on the tragic death of a South African sporting icon.

Hansa Powerade Dusi - Media Release

Date                 : Friday, 18 June 2010 

Subject            : Death of Graeme Pope-Ellis

Website            : http://www.dusi.co.za

The Dusi committee received the sad news that South African sporting icon and top paddler, Graeme Pope-Ellis (62) had died in a tragic accident on his farm outside Pietermartizburg late yesterday afternoon.

Pope-Ellis was driving his tractor doing some ploughing at about sunset yesterday when the tractor rolled over him.

A small fire started which alerted a tenant on the property.

“We are absolutely devastated at the news. Graeme was a South African sporting icon having won the Dusi 15 times and paddled it 46 consecutive times” said Ray de Vries spokesman for the Dusi.

“I was with him just last week when he rode The Unlimited Dusi Mfula MTB event along the route of the Dusi and he was telling me how much he was enjoying the ride”.

Pope –Ellis is survived by his wife Wendy and son Lee.

Ends

Released by     : Ray de Vries of Ray de Vries Sports Solutions on behalf of Cameron Mackenzie, Chairman of the organisers, Natal Canoe Club             

For further information kindly contact Ray de Vries

E-mail:             This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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We are super happy that our TV production team, ATV, have managed to secure the best coverage ever, with 30 dedicated hours of Dusi coverage on Supersport! This is the most coverage for any canoeing event ever! Click on Read More to view the TV broadcast scedule.

The weather co-operated, the river quality monitoring intensity was stepped up and the two main municipalities  (Msunduzi and eThekwini) pulled out the stops to get their sewer systems in order.  The result was possibly the best water quality we have had a on a Dusi in the last 10 years.

Below is the schematic from Steve Terry of Umgeni Water showing the water quality that was measured on the actual race days (21, 22 and 23 January).  Blue is Steve’s colour code for “Excellent quality for canoeing” -  what a beautiful picture this makes!

The senior managers from the Msunduzi Municipality’s sewer maintenance section attended the pre-race “Officials and Helpers” dinner at the Natal Canoe Club on the evening of Tuesday 19th January, and were publicly singled out by Dusi Chairman Cameron McKenzie for the additional effort they had put in to make this possible.  Thokozani Maseko, head of Water and Sanitation and Acting Deputy Municipal Manager said to me, “I wish every day was Dusi Day.  Now that we have got the river like this, we need to keep it like this”.  And we can all say “Amen” to that.  We are by no means out of the woods yet, but there is hope.

Action Photo have nearly completed their photo sorting process with most of the photos already being available on their website. Click Here if you would like to view and order your photos from Action Photo.