PE2EL Challenge book tells tales of paddlers who have braved gruelling, yet exhilarating, race

For those still gathering the nerve to take on the legendary PE2EL race, often hailed as the ultimate test of ocean endurance, a newly published book now offers a front-row seat to its raw physical trials, moments of fear and stories of unbreakable grit.

Unveiled at the Blue Water Canoe Club at North End Lake on Tuesday night, the PE2EL Challenge Book dives into the riveting tales of paddlers who have braved this gruelling, yet exhilarating, race.

According to Gavin Harvey, who is part of the editorial team, the book is not just for paddlers.

It highlights the magnificent coastline paddlers experience during the race and should appeal to a wide audience.

“We must remember that over 150 people have tried and failed to finish and have never tried a second time,” Harvey said.

“Again, safety is vital when it comes to the race.

“In the seventies, eighties and nineties, we had ski boats that followed the race, but as you can imagine, when there are over 80 paddlers on the ocean starting at different times, it’s hard to watch everyone.

“In the past 10-odd races, the NSRI have followed the race from start to finish and have done an incredible job in making sure that no lives have been lost.

“There are four of us — Nigel Harvey, Dave Collins, Fanta Gous and myself — who have worked on this project for the past two years as we were concerned that at some point in time the history of the early years would be lost.

“So we put a plan in place to produce a book that would do justice to the race, a book that those who have paddled the race, and there are only 798 who have completed the race, would be proud of.

“Let’s not forget that since 1951 there have been 13,962 people who have completed the Duzi canoe marathon, and since 1921 over 400,000 have completed the Comrades Marathon.”

Harvey said Dr Dean Allen, who has written award-winning books such as Empire, War & Cricket and Frontier Land, was the author, and Janet Bartlet helped to edit the book.

“Part of our plan was that the four of us had to make contact with whoever had paddled the race since 1972.

“We then collected as many stories, photographs, newspaper cuttings and social media posts so that we could choose the best stories and photos for the book.

“With this information, Dean and Janet put the book together in a format that we worked on, taking into account the different sections of the book, being stories about the race and different aspects of the race like the course, safety, equipment, seconds and sponsors, stats on who has done 10 or more races, ‘Icon of the Seas’, and all the results, plus info on each race highlighting info like who was the race referee, the winners and any other interesting info about each year.

“Finding the paddlers was the biggest exercise that we worked on as there are several international paddlers who have completed the race and several South Africans now live overseas, plus at least 50 paddlers have passed on.”

In 2023, the PE2EL Challenge celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Harvey said they started working on the book two years ago but never realised the magnitude of the work that they undertook.

“We keep on saying that there was no handbook advising us what to do along the way.

“We battled in that the author and printers were in Cape Town, the editor in Johannesburg, and my brother Nigel spent a year in the US, so it was hard managing the project.

“We were lucky that we had a base in PE where Dave, Fanta, and I worked from, but we all have day jobs.

He said that, by reading the book, he hoped any young person thinking about doing the race understood that they could not just rock up and paddle.

You have to do months of training, plus there is a qualifying race that you have to do within a month of the race.

“We want to ensure that the race happens every two years and that we want to encourage those who have not done the race to train and enter,” Harvey said.

“We are also looking at encouraging more international competitors to come out and experience this unique race.”

Books will be available at all the launches around the country, taking place in Gqeberha, KuGompo City, Johannesburg, St Francis Bay and the Garden Route in July and August.

The official launch is in Cape Town on August 20 and there is also a plan to have an online purchase link on Facebook.