Paddlers check off day three in Moama

Event director Shannon O’Brien from Sydney Harbour Kayaks said the first three days of the race had gone smoothly.

“The weather’s been really kind,” he said.

“The temperature’s a bit lower than normal, which is cool, but nice.

“All the teams seem much more organised, which makes our job that little bit easier, a bit safer on the water and paddling speeds are a bit faster for people.

“The river’s at a good level, so I can’t complain, everything’s lined up in our favour, which is nice.”

The event began at Yarrawonga on Monday morning, with competitors travelling to Tocumwal.

They resumed on day two for the 91km journey to Picnic Point, where they would then begin day three.

After a night at Moama, the paddlers were off to Torrumbarry on Thursday.

The planned course would have then seen paddlers start Friday’s leg at Gunbower, but conditions near the finish line at Koondrook have forced the final leg to instead kick off at Torrumbarry Weir and conclude at Nursery Track.

This shortens the final leg by 22km, bringing the total distance for the entire event to 393km.

Presentations will still be held at Koondrook.

The event has been rebuilding its competitor numbers since COVID-19, making the jump from about 250 in 2024 to almost 400 this year.

“A lot more solo paddlers (entered), which is great, and then some big teams,” O’Brien said.

“There are over 100 Indigenous children over five large teams representing Indigenous nations with the different police and elders from all of regional Victoria, the Riverina from Wagga down, and also a big team from Bateman’s Bay.

“It’s huge, I can see that that’s going to become a big growth area for the event going forward, we’ve already been approached by quite a few police units, and they’ll be bringing kids next year.

“Because they’re doing such a good job, we’ve made new awards, outstanding talent awards, and there’s one each for each team, but they get to say what the criteria is to win it.

“So it’s our award for them, created by them.”

Paddlers range from the competitive to casual, but all are supporting a charity or community group of their choice.

The Massive Murray Paddle has raised more than $1.1 million since 2016.

“The event can touch all these groups, and help them achieve their goals, and then they help us achieve our goals with the race,” O’Brien said.

“The Murray’s always been like that.

“That’s been the fundamentals of it for the 56 years, it’s always about helping groups.

“It’s still about winning a race or being fast on the Murray, but the background of it is that you need to look after the communities.”