My Hawkesbury Classic 2010 Experience

I finished the 111km Hawkesbury Classic yesterday morning and wanted to share my initial account of this event:


Race Start to Sackville (31.2km):
The Start at 4:15pm was ok, into a bit of a headwind, set off at a pretty easy but steady pace alongside Chris Hughes (the other Stand Up entrant). There was a little bit of rain as I made it quicker than expected (with the help of the run out tide) into the 1st rest stop at Sackville, feeling quite good (considering) with an average speed of 7.8km/hr.



Sackville to Wisemans Ferry (33.8km):
This leg was challenging, my body was starting to ache all over & it was against the tide. This whole section felt slow, wet & seemed to go forever. I just tried to focus on getting to the next rest stop stroke by stroke, hour by hour. Took about 4:45hrs with an average of 6.5km/hr (I don't think the distances per the provided maps were quite right?). This rest stop was mayhem & took longer than I wanted, canoes were everywhere, and paddlers taking long breaks with lots of people pulling out.



Wisemans Ferry to the finish (~46km):
Back out into the darkness & good to get away from the mayhem, just thought maybe should have put some dry & warm clothes on, too late now. The run out tide was nice, now the speed was up again, rain stopped, I dried out, moon popped thru the clouds, back into a rhythm & going well again. The next stretch was pretty lonely in the wee hours of the morning , I didn't pass or get passed by too many other paddlers. One paddler who passed me suggested missing the next rest stop (as it's about 1km detour from the course) & go straight for the finish? I quickly checked if I had enough fluid & nutrition to get me to the end, yes let's go for it.

Passed checkpoint N (93.5 km) & advised them I'll skip the rest stop at Spencer & to tell my landcrew the change of plans (questioning myself will I regret this?). Passed checkpoint O at about 5:15am, 12.5km to go feeling good & thinking I might actually finish.

Then it all turned bad, rounded the next bend & BAM straight into 20-25knot Southerly in the dark trying to punch thru the 1ft wind chop (built up over a ~3km straight stretch ahead of me).



My K15 wasn't made for this but did a great job of piercing the waves, I had to keep it pointed straight into the waves but also needed to angle across to the other side of the river & get some protection from the wind & waves. After grinding through this section for almost an hour I made the next checkpoint, then crossed again to the other side for some protection. Now I was really cold, wet & starting to feel the effects of the last hour. Changed into a heavier jacket and paddled around the next bend back out into the wind. There was no protection to the next checkpoint, just time to really dig deep & slog it out. After another hour I barely made the next checkpoint 3km up river but could finally feel the end coming. Punched across wind then turned & caught a few quick runners downwind (hang on this is supposed to be a flatwater marathon not a downwinder) before the final turn to the finish. 2km to go into a heavy current & a cross wind, I'm thinking @4km/hr that's ? hr to go let's go. With the finish tent in sight that last stretch took forever. (Per my GPS (before it ran out of battery) this last few hours I averaged 4.4 km/hr).

I finished at 7:45am in a time 15hrs 30 minutes, completely smashing my goal of 17 hrs, stoked with my time & actually finishing it in those conditions (I heard about 1.5 hrs after I went thru the Spencer checkpoint they were stopping paddlers due to the conditions).

Thanks to Stuart Murray for his advice & his Pioneering effort 2 years ago, it was his article in Australian Paddler Surfer that inspired me to give it a crack this year. This is a great event, well worth the effort & all for a good cause. With good preparation & a bit of work this event is achievable for most & would love to see a few more SUPs enter next year.

Here's my Garmin plot (before it ran out of batteries, there's a few straight spots where I put it on charge, the distances per my GPS are slightly shorter than the provided maps), also a link to the Hawkesbury Classic website:

connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/54098852

www.canoeclassic.net/



I'll post some more pictures when I get them off my ground crew.

wow, that's mighty paddle. hats off to you

Well done.

wow! great effort!

I will never complain after a 6km paddle with a little side wind again !

Totally, totally, totally impressive effort and one I could not even contemplate.

Congrats mate, I'm in awe of your efforts.

I was in the C2 blue one in the photo ,it was hard one for my parter and my 20 Hawkesbury. You did well in the SUP and hope you come back.

I'd love to see some posts on how you trained for it.

super great stuff well done thats one epic paddle

Great effort what a slog and thanks for posting your details of the race must have taken ages to put it together. I think that race needs a dedicated flat water board.

Now you have done it will you do it again ? did you have any ferry stops ?

rob