Around 1000 people have attended legendary canoeist Graeme Pope-Ellis’s funeral at Hilton College on Friday afternoon.

The 15-time Duzi Canoe Marathon winner was killed in a tractor accident on his Pietermaritzburg farm last week.

Pope-Ellis, known as the King of the Duzi, participated in the race a record 46 times.

Organiser of the Duzi Ray de Vries said it was an emotional event.

“It was wonderful to see how many people came to pay tribute to [him]. He was a legend in our land and many people came. Between 800 and 1000 people were there. There were 500 people outside the church alone,” he said.

(Edited by Deshnee Subramany)