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Ngqabutho Moyo Sports Reporter
FOUR adventurous city men have introduced kayaking on the flooded Matsheumhlophe river in Bulawayo. There have no been reports of the sport’s existence in Bulawayo but a number of Zimbabweans have been seen going down the Zambezi in Victoria Falls in their kayaks.

Paul Teasdale, Matthew Jolliffe, Mark Querl and Mark Lang took advantage of Thursday and Friday’s storms.

Matsheumhlophe runs from Bulawayo’s industrial area of Belmont and through the city centre’s eastern boundary and carries industrial effluence.

The four kayakers are from the Rock Air Water Adrenaline (RAWA) club and usually compete in Victoria Falls and Binga.

Teasdale the founder of RAWA said Bulawayo does not have any place where kayaking can be practiced and they decided to improvise.

“Bulawayo does not have fast flowing rivers and we saw an opportunity when Matsheumhlophe was flooded,” he said.

Teasdale said it was a great experience and they had enjoyed exhibiting their passion.

“It was an interesting experience, taking away the rubbish that is being dumped in the cannal it can make a perfect kayaking facility,” he said.

Teasdale said kayaking is not common in Bulawayo because there are no fast flowing rivers around.

As a high adrenaline sport he is confident that it has a scope for growth. “Just because we stay in a town without a fast flowing river kayaking is not common in Bulawayo but there are a lot of people who enjoy the sport but do not enjoy it because they have to travel all the way to Binga and Victoria Falls,” said Teasdale.

Teasdale said they would take the sport to Ncema River.