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Hawkesbury Canoe Classic

SleepMonsters Australia / 20.10.2005

The Classic is a major fundraiser in Sydney sporting circles and in 28 years has been responsible for donating over $1.8 million to charities.

The race is held on a full moon in late october every year and starts from 4pm and runs through the night with the first craft finishing in times from 7hrs onwards ( 7Hrs 11 mins, K4), ironically for safety reasons the race is run through the night, boat ramps are progressively shut down and access to the river is limited to kayaks.

This year will see a few more Adventure Racers venture onto the river, Matt Blundell returns again(Team Millie)and will be paddling K1, Matt Atcheson and Chad Singleton (Millie too) will be paddling UN2, Peter Tedesco (Aussie Bodies) will be paddling in a K4, Paul Lancaster (pre aussie bodies) will be paddling K1, the latter 2 paddlers should be able to do the race with their eyes closed as both have done more than 10 each with Paul holding the K1 record 8hrs 29mins 28s. Newcomers to AR Greg and Jason Slade will line up in Long Rec 2 and will surely be aiming for another record to go with their TK2 and Rec 2 Race records (9.26.33 is the time to beat). This year also see Rob Preston (Stingers) and his father out paddling in Long Rec 2 (look after the boat guys).

The Hawkesbury can tend to be a bit of a mind game, dont start out thinking you have 111km to paddle, there are some 20 checkpoints scattered down the river, just work on getting to the next one. Once you reach Wisemans your home, its only 46km to the finish, youve already done 65km, and if your lucky you will have the tide behind you, if you are unlucky you wont and youll find the mud flats 5km from the finish. At the end of the day your going to have a memorable night and dont forget to be nice to your landcrew, they may only see you a few times and it can be a while between stops.

The memorable points...

Paddling with friends and comraderie between paddlers and landcrews.
Raising money for a worthy cause.
The sight of the next checkpoint.
The outgoing tide.
The smell of food coming into some of them.
The feeling of warm thermals,(if you have time to change)
Bioluminesence as your boat glides through the water once you get past Wismemans.
The sight of Brooklyn Bridge.
The feeling you get knowing its over.
The taste of food and coffee at the end.

The not so memorable points

Waiting for the ferry to pass, you could get caught by them all, it happens :((
Falling in.
Getting to the checkpoint to find no landcrew.
The tide running against you, it will happen, hopefully once only.
Those long straits, several 3 to 4km, thankfully its dark.
Mud flats.
The sight of Brooklyn Bridge as you will be looking at it for a good 20 mins at least :)

Have a good night people and if i have forgotten anyone let me know.

A final note, dont miss the channel between Rodd Island and the southern shore when you head from bar point towards the finish line.

If you want anymore info click on The Classic