DUSI SUCCESS FOR HORSERACING FOLK

A nice happy racing family story is the success again of Sporting Post Editor Karel and Kiki Miedema's daughter Abbey in the Dusi Canoe Marathon.

Abbey Ulansky(nee Miedema) is well known as the Dusi Queen - a horse was raced and named in her honour years ago and trained by Joey Ramsden.

Resident these days in Canada, Abbey now has 10 Dusi starts for 8 wins and 2 seconds.
She holds all records in all categories –
And this year she broke all her own records
Slashed her last record by 4 minutes when in the men’s category no records were broken!
And finished 23rd overall against the men in a field of 1800+
It is also the first time a Mother has won the Dusi!

Ladies
In the ladies' race Team Best 4 Kayak Centre's Robyn Kime and Abbey Ulansky smashed the overall race record to go with their new stage records on each of the two preceding days as they cruised to a second victory in a row. Their team mates, Abby and Alex Abby finished second, ahead of the experienced crew of Debbie Germiquet and Carmen Blakeney.
"It's been a great three days for us and it's really great to have won. It's been such a privilege to have paddled with Abbey again," said Kime. "She knows the river so well and I have learnt a lot from her tactics, especially with her having been mentored by Graeme Pope-Ellis.
"We started off with some faster guys today and so fell off the wave quite early on, but we felt really good, so we decided to run Burma," said Ulansky.
"Robyn then drove beautifully yet again, but we decided not to risk it too much, and so we portaged Pumphouse Weir - it just wasn't worth the risk - and then got together with a couple of other boats over the last little stretch home."

Return
Despite having achieved a convincing victory on only two months of training, it is unlikely Ulansky will be back in the boat again for next year's K1 race. However, a return at some stage is almost a certainty for the Dusi Queen.
"It's been great to have come out here (from Canada). I've had a great time with Robs (Kime) and it's been fantastic to have stayed with Wendy Pope-Ellis on her farm again," said Ulansky.
"I'm really pleased I came and, who knows, maybe one day I can come back with my husband and take on Robs in the mixed doubles race, but for now I think I'll hand over my crown," she chuckled.


Read more:http://www.southafrica.info/news/sport/dusi-200212.htm#ixzz1mzp97lol

Well done!