The one day great adventure

Can your bum handle 64 kms in a boat? Well it turns out mine cant...but don't let that stop you from giving it a whirl! Australia's premier kayaking event is the Murray River Marathon held over five days between Chrissie and New Year. The full distance is 404Km but the more sane folks amongst us usually opt for the half marathon or the relay which adds up to a respectable 15km a day. This year the organisers added a new event - the one day great adventure where paddlers could do the full distance for just one day of the marathon. Thankfully they chose the shortest day - only a mere 64km.

My usual paddle is around around 14km so I was interested to see if I could do 64 clicks..last time I was interested to see if I could do something hard I ended up climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in a blizzard - so I have a track record of biting off more than I can chew. So this time, I took small bites. I decided to paddle for only one day when I could have done five and I actually trained this time around. Plus I borrowed a fast boat (thanks Don) and asked the legendary ultra marathon paddler Helen Neill if I could paddle with her to make sure I paced myself.

All this preparation helped and the 64 clicks was relatively easy...except for one part of my body...my BUTT. Every 15ks or so I would experience great pain as the circulation in my well-padded arse ceased to flow. I must say it caused me great angst and Helen great amusement (when she wasn't fighting with a fly that took a liking to her for the entire 64ks). But as luck would have it, whenever I would experience said pain, I would come across a lovely beach where I would land and simply stand up for a few moments to encourage the circulation to flow. There was even one occasion where I received a massage of my posterior which was kinda weird actually and may haunt me (and no doubt the masseuse) for the rest of time.

Of course, luck does run out and with 10 ks to go, the excruciating pain set in and I urgently searched for a place to land. Surrounded by steep banks I was on the verge of panic (and paralysis of the rear end) until I spotted a tree I could hang off for a moment or to, just enough to get some well needed relief! A helpful camper offered me a beer which was tempting but I decided that it was too much like hard work to drink beer while hanging from a tree without loosing your paddle, boat or will to live. Anyway, long story short - I had a great time doing the one day race on the Murray and recommend you all give it a go......just take a cushion! Kaos