Myall Classic

The 2010 Myall Classic has established the reputation of the race as a major event on the NSW Marathon Calendar, with 100 craft and more paddlers making the trip to Tea Gardens on the 25th September.

Glorious weather and favourable tides greeted the paddlers as the 9.00am start approached. For the first time, the entire course had been defined with Maritime navigation markers, making the course distance a standard length. With no more short-cuts possible, records for the event have now been established, and one that will be in place for a very long time is the performance of Matt Blundell, who is paddling better than at any time in his career. He stormed away from the start to record a time of 3 hrs and 38 minutes, a full 20 minutes better than his time 2 years ago, which was also the unofficial record.

Making an early break from the following bunch was the double of Steve Monger and Paul Carter, who established an ever-increasing lead over the following trio to come in around 5 minutes ahead of them in second place. After a race-long battle, helped in the last 5 km by a turning tide, Toby Hogbin in an Epic 18 sea kayak narrowly took third from  the ‘Zero Tolerance’ double of Wayne Bower and John Beesley. A superb performance from Toby, who has been training with Matt Blundell in preparation for the Hawkesbury Classic. The Epic 18 is not a fast boat by K1 standards.

The 27km event was won by Craig Dodd in a similar close finish with Marathon regulars Jill Sowerby and Judy Greenidge coming in 6 seconds adrift.
The 12 km event was taken out by Vet60 paddler Bill Hick, who is paddling strongly this year in the Marathon 10 series.
But the real winner was the Cure for Life foundation, the race beneficiary.

The total raised from entry fees and the generous raffle prize contribution of a Tomaree Double Sea Kayak by Ron Elliott of Elliott Kayaks, was in the order of $14,500.00. It is no wonder that the ‘Just Paddlers’ club has won the Charity Cup and Event of the Year. Full praise goes to the team of Mike and Shirley Eggleton, and Liz and Murray Van Reece and their team of supporters, for a great event with an even bigger future.