Christmas Race report
Every year the Marathon Canoe Club of SA hosts a Christmas Race on a selected course over a section of the Murray River around Swan Reach. This year the race was held yet again on the well known 29km Blanchetown to Swan Reach course.
2011 Race Report
After a week of typical warm dry South Australian weather paddlers awoke on Saturday morning of race day to brisk winds and the occasional heavy shower of rain. In the hope of lightening winds later in the day in the rain shadow of the Adelaide Hills participants travelled to Blanchetown for the start of the Christmas Race.
Winds abated slightly at the start to give everyone, including race organisers, some hope of a record breaking run to Swan Reach. However much to everyoneÕs disappointment the winds remained strong throughout the event, negating much of the positive effect of a strong flow.
It was a hard slog to the finish for paddlers with the K2 team of Brehin & Venning doing it particularly tough in the difficult conditions.
The half marathon start was equally problematic with recently erected Òtrespassers prosecutedÓ signs preventing use of the traditional starting point for the short course. However, not to be deterred, the short course paddlers took to the water at a point approximately 20km from Swan Reach and tackled the tough conditions with a big smile.
Despite the difficult conditions there were some great performances on the day with Bill Wray, having allegedly only his second paddle for the year, completing the 29km course in a Mirage sea kayak. Andrew Stoodley performed particularly well also in his Elliott kayaks multisport boat and David Speck made a strong return to marathon paddling in his TK1.
Many congratulations to Ron Blum who completed his 30th Blanchetown to Swan Reach event in a TK2 with great friend Bob Schmidt. A special presentation was made to Ron at the Blanchetown Hotel at the conclusion of the traditional Christmas meal. In accepting the acknowledgement Ron paid particular respect to his long time paddling partner John Hales and many thanks to his wife Karen who has joined him on every adventure throughout his paddling carreer.
NB – You can click here to view the Ron Blum Presentation
Many thanks to Sue Speck for starting the race, time keeping, printing the certificates and collating the results which can be downloaded and viewed through the link below.
Postscript – Despite the difficult conditions one record was broken and a number established:
Record Broken:
K2XV35 M Brehin & C Venning 2010 2:41:00
Records Established:
TK2WV35 L Mitchell & K Humphries 2010 2:50:34
OC1MV45 F Tanner 2010 2:57:14
OC2XV45 R Carr & P Carr 2010 2:43:08
RKL1MV45 A Stoodley 2010 2:40:07
RKL1MV55 B Wray 2010 3:19:48
RKL2XV55 P Archer & J Bourton 2010 2:57:42
