At the weekend we had the Marathon Championships and this week is the Australian Sprint Championships. 

After driving to Champion Lakes all week to take part in the Sprint Championships I now know what it is like to live 35 minutes from the water. I'm so happy I have lived near the river for the last 45 years as it saves a lot of time, frustration and money.

We have had some good results from our juniors in the sprints. I didn't do so well in my C1 races, I lost them all, but I was 40-50 years older than the other paddlers. There wasn't a 70+ category so I was put in the 35+ category. To get a medal I had to beat someone, but I was the only one in my class. 

Today and tomorrow I will be racing my kayak so hopefully I won't get left so far behind.

Mr & Mrs Smith.
Congratulations to paddlers Kris Smith & Steph Bedden on their wedding last weekend.
Photo John O'Sullivan.

At the WA Marathon Champs.
It looks like Josh is wash riding me, but in fact I was letting him pass!

Photo Peter Martin.

• Progressive Racing Group
• Who's Out There
• WA Marathon Championships
• Australian Sprint Championships
• Coming Events
• Pinjarra to Ravenswood

Some of the Progressive Racing Group Tuesday evening.

Who's Out There

Whilst many of the younger members of paddling are Sprint Races at the moment some of the more mature paddlers are marathon training.

Coran Longwood & Jaime Roberts, Bernard Hoffman, Peter Tomczak, Andrew Mowlem, Brett McDonald and in the background Steve Stuz 

 Andrew Mowlem, Brett McDonald. 

An Over 55 Canoe Group heading up the Helena River.

WA Marathon Championships 2023

Entries were down from last year because of the Australian Sprint Championships being 3 days after, a wedding involving a few paddlers and I suppose paddlers that could have taken part to help promote the sport not bothering.

The main single races started after the junior and short course race which was around 9.00am. The 65+ paddlers were in grid 4. Luckily there was enough kayak paddlers in the over 70s to make a class, but I still had the powerful Peter Pawlow in my class so it was virtually impossible for me to win, but if I had been in the 65+ category I would have been competing against Dave Berglund as well, who is another powerhouse. These two paddlers were at the top of the ladder in the 1980s and they are still going really strong even after having a break from paddling in between.

My other competitors in the 70+ were Peter Ward and John Breed. John paddled his slower DR kayak so in theory I should beat him and Peter is usually slower than me as he works too hard on his big block. I keep telling him to leave his acreage in the hills and come and live near me next to the river and have an easier life, but up to now he hasn’t listened.

The juniors head off.

Being mixed in with the 65+ paddlers meant that I had several paddlers to beat on my grid. Of course Peter Pawlow and Dave Berglund took off leaving us all behind followed by Martin Watson and then Warren Southwell. They were 4 paddlers I wouldn’t expect to beat but when I saw Robin Jacob on my left side going slightly faster than me, I thought ‘oh hell’ I better get going. The trouble was I was already going as fast as I could so the only hope was to wear him down. 

By the time we got to the top turn buoys we were side by side but although I put the pressure on I couldn’t lose him. At the Australian Masters Championships last year we were neck and neck throughout the race with me pipping him at the line, but he was in his ski then. I have always beaten him in races when he has paddled a kayak, but now I was worried having him next to me. I could only hope he will fade as the race goes on.

(Many paddlers are much faster on skis because they don’t have to worry about balance, but once they get in a kayak I tend to have a better chance of beating them.)

After doing three turns, about 5kms Robin was still next to me. I was thinking of a way how I could lose him, but whatever I did he was there. Unlike a lot of top paddlers who tend to washride each other and then fight it out at the end, I like to lose my opponent along the way, unless of course I know that they are a faster paddler and I have no chance. 

I managed to be a little ahead on the third turn and I don’t know what happened but when I accelerated out of the turn Robin wasn’t there and it appeared by a glance back that I was about 10 metres or so ahead. I suddenly became a happier paddler. It was here that Josh Kippin past me. 

With the hope that Robin wasn’t any faster than me I just had to keep a 10 metre gap all the way and if I could do that I would win. In a way it didn’t really matter because he was in the 65+ class and I was in the 70+ class, but that wasn’t the point, he was still an opponent. 

At one stage I thought I was catching Warren who had a good start and managed to get well ahead, but it seemed later that I wasn’t. (He beat me by 1min 12secs). So really I only had Robin to worry about as Doug, who is usually close to me didn’t get the best start and was well back. 

Bit of a mix at the corner. C1, SUP, K1 male and K1 female.

Photo Peter Martin.

Photo Peter Martin.

Young Lilly Farrell & Sue McDougal.  

Every time I looked over my shoulder I could see Robin had closed the gap and then I would have to put the pressure on and leave him again, which I did several times. Coming up to the bottom turn I had a SUP in front of me. I sped up to pass it before the buoy turn but the paddler suddenly did sharp turn at the first buoy and I had to slow or I would have hit it. It did a similar thing around the next buoy. It seems that some of the SUP paddlers do sharp turns rather than a continuous turn. Next time I’ll know to go to the outside of them.

As I turned I was fretting a bit as I knew Robin would have got closer, but he didn’t get close enough to get directly on my wash. So the cat and mouse paddle continued with me looking behind more times in this race than any other race I've done. 
It’s usually easier on the mind to give chase, rather than being the one who is ahead. By the time we were half way through our last big lap I knew I had the strength to keep Robin at bay. One slip though could have resulted in him catching up and then it would have been a sprint to the line and that was what I was trying to avoid. 

Thankfully I managed to cross the line 11 seconds ahead of Robin. He certainly made me work hard. He had never been that close to me in a race using his kayak before so it looks as if I will now have to watch him closely. (I asked his wife Lorraine to take his on a holiday so to lose some of his fitness.)

So in my class Peter Pawlow was first, I was second and Peter Ward third with John coming forth in his DR.

By the time I got out many of the classes were still paddling as they had more kms to paddle. The younger you are the more laps and distance you do. The open class were paddling 25.5kms, portaging 6 times and running 170 metres each time. (The portage distance at the Australian Marathon Championships is 200 metres with a pontoon style in and out, so our top paddlers have been portaging 256 metres in practise.)
I’m pretty proud of people like Kate Crossing who had never portaged before and had to do 4 portages, paddle 18.5kms and lift a heavy kayak 170 metres. Several other women also did extremely well.

I also take my hat off to Simon O’Sullivan who is much faster and more comfortable paddling his ski. But in the tradition of paddling a marathon, he paddled 22kms in his kayak, and had to portage 5 times (a total of 850 metres) taking 2 hours 9 mins. Ronald Lachenicht who doesn’t race as much as Simon, did the same distance. Well done guys.

I congratulate all the paddlers that took part in the marathon, especially those paddlers who are not used to running or have never paddled a state marathon before.

Again we had lots of volunteers and Doug to help it run smooth.

Izzy Combe had to do 4 portages, paddle 18.5kms and run 170 metres. And she did the same in the doubles the next day. 
Photo Peter Martin.

Matt Jones getting back in his kayak after a portage.

Kate Crossing had never portaged before, had to do 4 portages, paddle 18.5kms and lift a heavy kayak 170 metres. And she did the same in the doubles the next day. 

Josh Kippin winner of the K1 Open by a big margin.

Gergely (Gary) Balazs Nagy crossing a line after 25.5kms and 6 portages.

Open K1

Andrew Mowlem 3rd, Josh Kippin 1st, & Stephan Weyers 2nd

State Marathon Championships 
Doubles

Grid one is off with a splash.

Photo Nick Cobley

 Lily Farrell & Scarlett Florisson

Grid 2 off and racing.

Doug and I won the over 65+ category.

Photo Nick Cobley

Close racing at the top.

Still close racing at the portage.

Michael Liddle & Jaime Roberts pip Benjamin Hewitt & Garth Civil across the line.
 

A Coot at the champs.

Australian Sprint Championships

Champion Lake

Luke Egger front takes on some of the best. 

Women's K4

Connor Jacob having a successful championships.

WAs Gary Balazs Nagy stretching out.

Photo Selena Lloyd 

Bugger I'm being left behind again.

Photo Selena Lloyd

Wait for me.

Photo Selena Lloyd

All results here:-

Paddle Australia Regattas