Red Cross Murray River Canoe Marathon

The Murray Marathon 440km over 5 days kicking off on the 27th of December running from Yarrawonga to Echuca.
This was a dream fulfilled, a dream that was established after I paddled the Outward Bound Hawkesbury Canoe Classic from Windsor to Brooklyn, some 110km, when I was 16 and 17 (1978).
My dream was almost never realised, as our daughter  Stephanie was just born in November. It was a struggle as she was our first child. Naiive; I did not realise what impact a baby can have on one's life, despite the fact that my sisters and brother have all begun their families.
I would recommend this event to anyone keen on canoeing, it is a very pleasant river to paddle, with a steady current assisting you all the way. The event is well organised and patronised. We raised money to go to the Red Cross and had fun doing it all for the cause of course ! By going as a team we were able to provide our own land crew without extra persons and the demands individually were lessened significantly against a soloist being roughly 20-25 km per day per person.
Our training worked well with instruction provided to us courtesy of the Patterson Lakes canoe club and their regular paddles on the Yarra river at Richmond on Tuesday evenings. We worked on a system to change paddlers quickly, with everyone's position marked and a bath plug to use as a quick release nut on the seat bolt. Also bought in some technology with a lightweight 'wing' paddle and plenty of waxing on the hull.
The highlight of the event is the overall spirit of the event, there are the paddlers and their land crew all travelling in convoy from town to town, a moving party caravan all the way. We saw the river in its glory and visited towns that would not normally be visited.  
 The soloists were tough, but needed special care: there were special massage tents and 'clinics' to sort out blisters in delicate areas.

Every day there is a mass start for each class, it is all tension as we poise to accelerate away. Does it really make a difference ? Probably not over the overall day's distance, but it's all part of the fun.
At change-over the pressure is on. We find out that we are in the running for a position in the top 3, so the game is on !
Each day we move on to a campground, usually in a sports oval.  The ground is full of like-minded campers. The organisers put on movies at night with a screen on the side of a double decker bus. People brought BBQs, tents and costumes of all descriptions and were all in jovial mood. Not too late though - sleep comes very quickly after a busy day of racing. Not only for the fatigue but for our early  start - 5:00am - which was alarmed by the loud dulcit tones of Nana Mouskouri and Demis Roussos with "Morning has Broken" blared out by large speakers on the bus as it roamed around the camp site.
The results are in, times posted at the end of the day. One of team members realised that there was a surf ski in our class and lodged a protest. Did it matter? Not to me, I was in it to have fun and fulfill a dream. the others got competitive when they realised how close we were.
Maps and instructions were very clear and over all the event was professionally organised. The volunteers were fantastic from publishing stories, to food and marshaling.

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