Well we are all back from the Australian Marathon Canoe/Kayak Marathon Championships.

And what a great championships it was apart from the chill factor.

We had some fantastic results although we were beaten by the sheer numbers of paddlers from Victoria.

Victoria certainly got all their juniors and canoe paddlers together as there were loads of them. 

We had a big team of 35 paddlers, which included the SUP paddlers. WA paddlers won 31 Gold, 15 Silver & 10 Bronze (provisional) that's including the team races. 

It was great to have 4 days of racing but with it being at Easter it was a lot more expensive to travel and get accommodation.

This week the newsletter is featuring the Single Races. 

 Next week I will feature the Double Races.

Paddle WA

Avon Descent Paddling Course

Paddling Courses | Paddle WA

Name: Chase The Avon
Description: An information evening, 5 flatwater sessions, 1/2 day white water skills development, full day white water skills and trip and Avon Descent competency assessment. You will have access to practical tips and insights from experienced Avon Descent paddlers while developing the skills required to race well and achieve your goal to finish the Avon Descent.
Date: Information Session Monday 1 May 2023. Flatwater Sessions during May running at 3 different clubs on different days in May. Choose one that suits you
Venue: Information session Ascot Kayak Club, Fauntleroy Ave, Ascot
Cost: $490, if you belong to a Paddle WA affiliated club it is $350
Enquiries: Leone education@paddlewa.asn.au or 0412101949 (Text is preferred)

More information here:- Paddling Courses | Paddle WA

Australian Canoe Marathon Championships
Geelong 

The Marathon Championships were very well run and it thanks to John Young and his committee. We thank you John, your committee and all your volunteers.

2022-23 Marathon Paddler of the Year.

Master Marathon Paddler - Terry Bolland.

Open Marathon Paddler - Josh Kippin.
Junior Marathon Paddler Noah Boldy.

I was pretty happy with my four races at the Marathon Champs.

I was 4th in the 65+ (or 2nd in the 70+) in the short race.

I was 1st in the 70+ ICF main race.

I was 2nd with Doug Hodson in the general 65+ class doubles.

And 5th in the general mixed doubles with Marie Andersson in 50-64 class.

Good Friday - Day one. 
Short Course Races.

With rain and storms forecast all weekend it didn’t seem as if our first day at the champs was going to be a good one. It rained all night and although it wasn’t raining when I walked to the course I decided to take my thermals. 
Young lily was the first WA paddler to race. She was going well and sitting in third and forth place  in her group and then her rudder jammed. That was heart breaking as she couldn’t steer her kayak and all the other paddlers then started passing her. As you can imagine it was heart ache for Lily. As we all know these things happen, but it’s often hard to take.
Connor Jacob was in the next race the U16 & U18 although he was three years younger than the first place he was only 29 seconds behind, coming 4th. He was first in his age group.
The next race it was Gary’s turn in his C1. Although he had some opposition from sprint paddler Marcelo Cabezas up until the first corner, after that Gary sped away and won his race really easily.
Then it was the Open Women. We had Jaime Roberts, Genevieve Stanley and Jane Pankhurst in this race. Jaime was in the front pack and in second place most of the race but at the last turn Rebecca Mann increased her lead and finished 7 seconds ahead. Kate Leverett, a 40 year old and a bit of a legend in marathon racing was third. Genevieve and Jane were 10th and 11th.

Rebecca Mann 1st leads Jaime Roberts 2nd and Hannah Scott 4th. Kate Leverett managed to pass Hannah to come third.
Photo Doug Hodson. 

The big race of the day, the men's open was next and we had big hopes for Josh Kippin. We also had Harry and Charlie Hewitt which I think may have been at their first Aussy Marathon Champs. Josh looked as if he had the race under control, although Glen Rypp wasn’t letting him get away and seemed to have a good last portage, but Josh led around the last lap and he looked comfortable to take the win. Glen was 2 seconds behind, with Josh’s doubles partner Casey Haynes taking 3rd place 9 seconds behind Josh. Harry was 58 seconds behind coming 8th and Charlie 1min.36 secs behind coming 15th.
The next race was the Masters Women. Unfortunately we didn’t have any WA
women paddlers in this race. In the Masters 45 - 54 Garth Civil came 4^th and Ben Hewitt 5th. 
Peter Pawlow and I had to go in the 65 + because we were the only 70+ paddlers entered. That meant we had WAs Dave Berglund to beat.
There were lots of paddlers on the water so it was amazingly rough. With the river being fairly narrow with near vertical banks the wash put two of my opposition off and I passed them which was pleasing. Peter, Dave and a NSW paddler Tony Hystek were too far ahead at the first turn to be threatened by me. I was running 5th at that point but I passed Steven Vegh on the 3rd turn and managed to keep him at bay taking me to 4th place in the 65+ and 2nd in the 70+. Dave was first, Peter was second, Tony Hystek third and I came forth. 

Josh Kippin leads the short course race and comes first.

Photo Doug Hodson. 

Peter Pawlow lead Dave Berglund in the short course but Dave passed him to come 1st.
Photo Doug Hodson. 

I managed to come 4th with Tony Hystek coming third.
Photo Doug Hodson. 

Our youngsters, Connor, Lily, Scarlett and T Kerkow-Hill from Queensland were in the junior K4 race which they won. 
After presentations it was time for the SUPs to have a technical race, a circuit with about 10 turns and a great race to watch. The women’s race was first and we had Noni Wells in the open and she came second, Emma Parker 4th, Deborah Robinson 5th in the 40+ and Nashni Jacob who spun her board and collided which resulted in a swim. In the men’s we had Darren Pratt 1st in the 50+, Bob Cowan 5th and Derek cross 3rd 40+. There was a lot of skill in that race.
After presentations I walked back to my cabin. My larder was a little short of good food, although I did have half a chicken, some ham, cheese, weetbix, nut, banana, rice cream, some bread and a tin of tuna. Being Good Friday I never eat meat, not because I’m religious but because I have never eaten meat on Good Friday and it didn’t seem right to change that habit. So I ended up having a tuna sandwich and some rice pudding. My only concern was- would it be enough to help me paddle 17kms and power me to a gold medal in the morning or should I go for a near 4km walk to the shops. I opted for a tuna sandwich and relaxed. (I ate the chicken the following night.)

Our juniors, Connor, Lily, Scarlett with Thomas Kerkow-Hill from Queensland win the K4 race.
Photo Doug Hodson.

WAs Derek Cross & Darren Pratt execute a turn around the buoy in the technical race.

Marathon

Results Here

Paddle Victoria Marathon (webscorer.com)

Day Two 
My Singles Race

I was paddling at 10.00am so I didn’t have to hurry to get to the course which was a 15-20 min walk. I had 7 other 70 year olds in my class. I was lucky that Peter Pawlow decided to race in the general class, a 13km race rather that the ICF class a 17km race, so it meant I had a chance.
Terry Poole was on my line. He is the same age and he has beaten me before, I have also beaten him so I was expecting a tough, very tactical race. We were mixed in with the 65 year old class with Dave Berglund in it so I had no hope of leading our group. 

Dave and 3 other paddlers shot off, but to my surprise I was soon ahead of Terry Poole. I knew that 3 of the 4 paddlers ahead of me were in the 65 class, so I needed to catch the 70 year old, but I didn’t know who it was.
Although I was a little behind for the first few hundred metres l pushed and sprinted towards the paddler in front and managed to get on his 4th wash, then I sprinted onto his 3rd wash, his second wash and then I was right behind him where I sat for a few moments to get my breath back. As soon as I felt recovered I lifted my pace and slipped beside him and then asked his age. When he said he was in the 70 class I immediately lengthened my stride and passed him. I just couldn’t sit beside him and dawdle along, I had to make a fight of it. 
I felt good and I thought I had left him behind but he didn’t take me passing him lying down and had slipped onto my rear wash and for the next 1-1/2 laps he just sat there. It became time to lose him so at one of the turns I cut it fine and powered away and lost him. 
With the pressure off a little all I had to do now was to keep up a solid pace and watch out for the wash from all the other boats which was annoying and at times pretty rough, causing several capsizes. The river was fairly narrow, the banks fairly vertical and there were lots of boats, over 120. The wash didn’t bother me that much as I was paddling my new 8.5kg Grafton Paddle Sports Alchemist which was pretty stable. 
For the next two laps I was alone and first in my class with the nearest competitor being a few hundred metres or so behind and now that was Terry Poole, the other guy must have dropped completely off. Although I had a sizable lead the pressure was still on to keep in front. You never know what could happen in a marathon. I have had paddlers sneak up before and with all the boats on the course a scramble at a turn could lead to an upset. I just kept the power on, increased it on the last couple of kilometres and crossed the line first. Yippee

At the finish line.
I won.

Photo David Little.

Terry Poole on the left & Peter Prichard on my right. 

Photo Doug Hodson.

ICF Class Singles | K1 M V70-74 (17 km) | 2023 OPACMSC 20230408 U16 ICF & Masters singles | Resources.ws.RaceResults | Webscorer

Day 2 cont-

The juniors, Beau Jacob and WAs Para paddler Katharine Mallory raced first on day two, then at 10.00am it was the masters men and women so we had a lot of WA paddlers on the water. In the females we had Erica McKnight, Marie Andersson, Jane Liddle, Anne Harris (WA/VIC), and in the ICF events which paddlers portage and more difficult of races there were Nicky Taylor, Agnes Pajor and Sue McDougall.

In the mens 13km race we had Doug Hodson and Peter Pawlow and in the 17km we had Dave Berglund and me. In the ICF portage race we had Ben Hewitt, Garth Civil and Kelby Murray. 

In the afternoon it was the big one- the open mens and womens and it didn’t disappoint as there was some great racing. 
In the womens open we had Jaime Roberts, and Jane Pankhurst, in the under 21 Genevieve Stanley and in the U18 Lily Farrell.
In the mens open we had Josh Kippin and Coran Longwood.
In the U23 we had Stephan Weyers, Harry Hewitt and Charlie Hewitt. In the U18 we had Connor Jacob.
In the C1 open - Gary (Gergely) Balazs Nagy.
Every one paddled their heart out and got some good results. See below.

Doug Hodson taking the turn.

Jane Liddle & Erica McKnight fighting it out but in different classes.

Day Two

Open & Junior ICF Races

Connor Jacob gets a mouthful of jelly babies from his mum Nashani.

Gary Nagy looks strong starting the 200 m portaged.

Josh Kippin and Glenn Rypp head to head.

Josh beat Glenn over the line and again he is the Australian Champion.

Coran Longwood coming up to the portage.

Jane's mum Sue has the important task of getting Jane's water bag over her head whilst Jane runs by.

Lily Farrell at the beginning of the portage.

Under 23 Genevieve Stanley all concentration.

Photo Doug Hodson. 

Under 23 Charlie Hewitt just finished.
It was good to have his brother Harry and his Dad Ben at the championships.

Casey Haynes Vic, Josh Kippin WA and Glenn Rypp SA.

Nashani Jacob finishes her SUP race and joined by his two boys, Beau and Jacob and her mum.

Compiled by Doug Hodson

Compiled by Doug Hodson

Marathon

Full Results Here

Paddle Victoria Marathon (webscorer.com)

Report 2023 Oceania Paddle Australia Canoe Marathon & SUP Championships

by Doug Hodson

The Barwon River in Geelong is home to a huge colony of platypuses [platypi ?] and long-necked turtles. Last weekend they were joined by 300 paddlers for the Marathon Nationals. Its a picturesque section of narrowish river with no beaches and only pontoons for getting in and out. The Masters were heard to say “Nice” as they took their first look !

The event was very well organised and enjoyable, much bigger than previous. Those who had been to a Nationals before experienced something a cut above what they’d seen before. Up until 2019, it was a two-day event, this was a four day event with the addition of SUPs, Short Course, Mixed Doubles and K4.

Friday was short course day and a good opportunity to get the measure of the opposition and have a feel of the portage. Gergely [C1], Josh Kippin [back for another one] and Dave Berglund [65+ and still going super strong] set the trend for them for the weekend with their first haul of golds. The last event was SUP Technical, a wiggle around a wiggly course. The WA supporters were apoplectic when Connor and Beau’s Mum was knocked into the water and lost her paddle. Darren Pratt collected his first gold. 

Saturday dawned cool and rainy and a bit windy, typical Victoria. Kathy Mallory got the day rolling with a gold in Para. The next race saw 130 Masters get on the water. When asked at the end how rough she had found it, Jane Liddle was heard to say “very rough”. Ben Hewitt was on a pack of friendly paddlers who ran him into a patch of water lillies. We’ve got that tree upstream of Sandy Beach ready for them year after next ! The sack for the golds got some added by Terry, Derek Cross, Peter Pawlow, Erica, Jane Liddle. The afternoon saw a revisit of the great rivalry of Josh Kippin vs Glen Ryp with the young pretender Casey Haynes well in the mix. Josh has won the last two and it came down to just him and Glen after a gruelling outing. Josh cranked it out of the last turn and that was it, Denmark for the Worlds much to the delight of his wife Steph who loves shopping. Our other open, U23 and U18 paddlers fought it out gallantly, kudos to Jaime Roberts [silver], Jane Pankhurst, Coran Longwood, Stephan Weyers, Gen Stanley, Connor Jacob and Lily Farrell. The day finished with Sup Sprints and a gold for Noni Wells.

Sunday was Doubles day. Beau Jacob collected his first gold early on and then it was time for Masters’ paddling and what a gang of troopers they were. They flogged it up and down the river and through the finish to add golds for Nicky Taylor and Kelby Murray [Bunbury but wish we saw more of him]. Terry Bolland and Doug Hodson had a good race with three others until they turned for the end and discovered the others had another lap, they were in a different class ! The afternoon was brutal. Josh had Casey Haynes in with him and they set a tough pace. Coran and Stephan kept up with them for a long way and finally got dropped. They got to the end with absolutely nothing left in the tank. Lily Farrell and Scarlett Florisson [U18] were going really well and then had a capsize at the top mark. Lets hope it didn’t affect their selection chances. The SUPs did their long course at the same time and put out a massive wash !!

The event was finished off on the Monday with Mixed Doubles followed by SUP relay and an interstate K4. Two of our SUP teams were in the medals and our K4 crew limbered up in their freezing cold paddling gear, from the morning and went out and did us proud. Well done WA !! 

That was it, time to rest up in the afternoon prior to heading for the pub for our wind-up dinner. WA took 35 paddlers across and are coming back with 34 Gold, 16 Silver & 9 Bronze, a fantastic achievement. See you all at Encounter Lakes in S Australia, next April and huge thanks to John Young and his team from Paddle Victoria.