Wagga Bidgee Canoe Club will be hosting the PaddleNSW Marathon series at Wagga Beach this weekend. Photo: Wagga Bidgee Canoe Club.
Grab your paddles, head to Wagga Beach and get ready for some action as the PaddleNSW State Marathon Series prepares to race down the Murrumbidgee River.
With canoes hitting the water this Saturday at 10 am, 120 of the state’s best paddlers will travel 26 kilometres from Oura to Wagga Beach to claim early points in round one of the PaddleNSW State Marathon Series.
“This is the Wagga Bidgee Canoe Club’s biggest weekend of the year,” race director and club member Paul Johanson said.
“We’re really pleased that we can have the opening event of the series. It really highlights some of the great natural features we have here in the Riverina and brings some of the most elite talent to our area.
“The Murrumbidgee River is such an asset to the city, gives us a focal point to relax at times while also hosting an event of this magnitude. It’s a real gift to the city at this time of the year.”
Mr Johanson said it would take the paddlers about two and a half hours. Meanwhile, shorter courses are also being offered, with the starting points for each being Braouer Reserve (17 km) and Eunony Bridge (7.5 km).
“Once the marathon is done on the Saturday, we then kick on with the dash event on the Sunday,” Mr Johanson said.
“The dash is very similar to criterium events that cyclists often have. They’re often a street course where you ride around and around a circuit.
“We have a similar thing at Wagga Beach, where we have a buoy set up upstream of Wagga Beach near the rocks, another one downstream of the beach, at the bottom end of the beach. People of different handicaps are then released with the hopes of the closest finishes possible.
“It’s a nice spectator event to have a look at and it’s often fairly exciting.”
Mr Johanson is also inviting people who are interested in learning how to canoe to attend the Wagga Bidgee Canoe Club at Wagga Beach on Tuesday evenings.
“Come down and talk to someone on a Tuesday night; generally, at six o’clock we hit the water,” he said.
“Everyone is always really welcoming, we have different events for different skill levels and there’s always someone up for a chat.”
The Paddle NSW State Marathon kicks off at 10 am on Saturday 1 February, with the Wagga Dash following on Sunday 2 February at 9 am.
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