As we have said during the last few weeks, the favourites have been training very hard to get the optimal point of fitness to go for the title. Competed this year in K2, at the A batch of the start there will be couples like McGregor-Jenkins, Mbanjwa-Zondi, Birkett-Graham, Cruickshanks-Stewart, Brandon van der Walt-Cook, Rubenstein-Farrel, Kime-Mhlophe or Biggs brothers. Big names not only looking for a gold medal (prize for the top 10) but trying to set their names as the 2012 edition winners. Some of them already have done it, but for some others is has been an impossible goal to achieve yet, it doesn't matter how hard they have tried.
As seen at the seeding races and during the last two months, Hank McGregor and Len Jenkins start as the couple to beat, although Mbanjwa and Zondi have already done it at the Rietvlei Rumble and they have at their pros list the long portages, very propitious to their conditions. Last year's K1 winner, Andrew Birkett, will look for being at that leading group now with his partner Jason Graham, as they will do another young but pushing couples like van der Walt-Cook o Kime-Mhlophe. Other much more experimented boats will be on guard to seize the minimum gap amog the favourites, as those including Shaun Rubenstein (reconverted during the last years to a 200 m. paddler, but still one of the few who can say that they beated Manuel Busto in a Marathon) or Piers Cruickshanks, who at his 37 has won basically all the main races in South Africa in a K2, but the Dusi, even having been a gold medalist for ten times, still avoids him. Another question is how will react the czech couple Jezek and Kolanda, marathon world medallists, but facing a kind of race they are not very used to.
In the ladies category, after the broken hand of Hilary Pitchford, the victory will be a matter of two: the Adie sisters and the young Robyn Kime and Abbey Ulansky. However, the tricky river and the toughness of competition make the best unuseful in case of an incident who can be seized by an incoming couple to add to the two main favourites.
By now, here you have the list of the two batches with the seeded boats, both for men and women:
Men
| Paddler 1 | Paddler 2 |
| MARK MULDER | DAVID CHAPLIN |
| THULANE MBANJWA | SIBONELO ZONDI |
| LEN JENKINS JNR | HANK MCGREGOR |
| CRAIG TURTON | JASPER MOCKE |
| RICHARD CELE | NHLANHLAYAKHE CELE |
| ANDREW BIRKETT | JASON GRAHAM |
| SHAUN RUBENSTEIN | STEVE FARRELL |
| LANCE KIME | KWANDA MHLOPHE |
| PIERS CRUICKSHANKS | MICHAEL STEWART |
| BRANDON VAN DER WALT | CLINTON COOK |
| SHAUN BIGGS | BEN BIGGS |
| LUCAS MTHALANE | MMELI CELE |
| MURRAY HAW | JAMES SPEED |
| ANDREW ADIE | CARL FOLSCHER |
| SHAUN GRIFFIN | CAM SCHOEMAN |
| MATT TRAUTMAN | KELVIN TRAUTMAN |
| JEFFREY SMITH | WAYNE THOMPSON |
| GAVIN SHUTER | ALEX ROBERTS |
| LOVEDAY MSIZI ZONDI | JANDRE BEZUIDENHOUT |
| MURRAY STARR | DONAVAN WEWEGE |
| ADAM NISBET | LUKE NISBET |
| BANESTI NKHOESA | SIZWE MHULO |
| GREG CARTER-BROWN | CRAIG CARTER-BROWN |
| ANDREW BIRKETT | PATRICK BIRKETT |
| MARC GERMIQUET | JAYSEN GOLDING |
| MKHONZENI GUMEDE | SHAUN MAPHANGA |
| MARK ESSERY | DIRK VAN DEN BERG |
| JONATHAN NIEMANN | GAVIN PAYNE |
| TRENTON LAMBLE | STUART CLIFTON |
| SISEKO NTONDINI | TOM NGCOBO |
| PIETER-WILLEM BASSON | DAANTJIE MALAN |
| SKHUMBUSO NGIDI | NKOSIKAYISE CELE (SHANGASE) |
| PAULOS SHOZI | THEMBINKOSI NGCOBO |
| GLENN HILLIAR | MARK MICHELL |
| ROGER MORTLOCK | ANTHONY BAIRD |
| MATTHEW DEAN | OWEN GANDAR |
| STEVEN JOHNSTON | KEVIN MUSGRAVE |
| ROBERT CRICHTON | STUART DRING |
| ROLAND SMITH | BRANDON COLLYER |
| DAVE MCKENZIE | CRAIG REES |
| TRAVIS WILSON | TYLER WILSON |
| SIFISO VINCENT CEBEKHULU | THANDO NGAMLANA |
| MICHAEL HAY | TROY HAWORTH |
| NQOBILE MAKHANYA | SBONISO SHOZI |
| SHANE MILLWARD | STEVE BOTHA |
| IAN GLASS | SHAUN BUTLER |
| STEPHEN STAMP | DAMON STAMP |
| VICTOR MONYEPAO | RETHABILE RATOANE |
| ANDREW NEAL | BRUCE BRAUTESETH |
| ADOLF JOUBERT | MARIE RENCKEN |
| DANIE BOTES | JOHAN UBBINK |
| MARK USSHER | MARC SNYMAN |
| LOUW VAN RIET | KIRSTEN PENDERIS |
| JODY TAYLOR | DUANE TAYLOR |
| GRAEME JOHNSTON | DAVID AIKINS |
| PAUL HATFIELD | ANDRE MORRISH |
| BRADLEY FISHER | RYNO ARMDORF |
| MARK FEATHER | MARK GARDEN |
| GUSTAV SMOOK | ANDREAS VAN TONDER |
| MARK SMITH | TRISTAN DU PISANIE |
| JACQUES THERON | SHANE PRICE |
| LUKAS KASOVSKY | WAYNE WILSON |
| MICHAEL ODVARKO | ADAM JAKUB |
| TOMAS JEZEK | MARTIN KOLANDA |
| THOMAS NGIDI | JOHN THEMBA NGCOBO |
Ladies
| ABBY ADIE | ALEX ADIE |
| ROBYN KIME | ABBEY ULANSKY |
| DEBBIE GERMIQUET | CARMEN BLAKENEY |
| BIANCA HAW | JORDAN PEEK |
| BRITTANY PETERSEN | KERRY SHUTER |
| NATALIE WOODS | SUSAN CARTER-BROWN |
| JENNA WARD | KERRY SEGAL |
| MANDY RAWLINS | DEBBIE LEWIS |
| KATE ARNOTT | CHARLOTTE LOVEMORE |
| LORNA OLIVER | ANGELA SCRUBY |
| SASHA JARMAN | MARISA PRETORIUS |
| ROBYN WIGGETT | ROBYN HENDERSON |
| DIANA RIETZ | NICKY TAYLOR |
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