Channel of hope
Once thought to be the world’s longest canoe race, the Massive Murray River Paddle celebrates its golden jubilee in November.
IT’S 6AM ON A DECEMBER morning in 1969 on the Murray River, Victoria. Mark Thornthwaite, 21, slips into a kayak and pushes off from a boat ramp at Picnic Point at the edge of the Barmah Forest, 40km north-east of Echuca. It’s Day 3 of the first-ever Murray River Canoe Marathon.
His boat is a double but his partner has already dropped out and gone home, lasting less than half of the distance from Yarrawonga to Swan Hill, leaving Thornthwaite to paddle alone between the silent river red gums in the eerie, drowned forest.
Birds scatter as he navigates his kayak around the bends and through the submerged logs. An occasional fish jumps out of the water, as though keen to catch a glimpse of the madness above. No-one could have known the pain that lay ahead when the boats set off from Yarrawonga two days earlier.
Mark founded the event as a fundraiser for the Red Cross, somehow convincing nine other young men, including 16-year-old Philip Ball, to attempt what was believed then to be the longest canoe race in the world. By the end of the third day, four of the seven starting boats would be out of the race.
Then just past Barmah Bridge the fleet hits a storm. Driving rain and fierce headwinds whip the river into a mean chop, crashing over their laps. The paddlers’ most gruelling exertions do little more than hold their kayaks in place, as though on a cruel, watery treadmill. Mark’s shoulder gives out. Exhausted and in crippling pain he nurses his kayak to the river’s edge where a support crew hauls him out and begins first aid. He arrives in Echuca on the back of the rescue boat, his arm in a makeshift sling.Two days later Ball wins the race, slipping into Swan Hill in a time of 45 hours, 36 minutes, 20 seconds.
The 10 young men didn’t know it at the time but they’d just started something special – an endurance event that would endure beyond anyone’s expectations. A group of trailblazers turning their arms like windmills for five days, scooping the Murray behind them one stroke at a time, spurred on by camaraderie, bonded by blisters.
This year is the 50th anniversary of that first race. More than 400 paddlers will line up at Yarrawonga on 19 November and follow the same course that Mark and his mates pioneered back in 1969. Many teams enter as a relay, changing paddlers at checkpoints, while others opt to paddle the whole distance solo.The event is
still run as a fundraiser, with competitors nominating charities of their choice. In 2017, the event raised $181,000.
Now aged 70, Mark will be back, aiming to finish what he started and paddle the entire 404km course.
“I’m humbled by the feats of people such as Bill Robinson, who will be paddling his 29th consecutive marathon, and the Dungulayin Mileka team,” he says. “I just hope I can finish.”
The Dungulayin Mileka team is made up of at-risk Aboriginal teenagers paired with police officers as part of a long-running program to foster positive bonds between the two groups.
“The Massive Murray Paddle provides an opportunity for people to overcome challenges, while forming lifelong bonds,” says Tony Lovett, the team’s organiser. “There’s a cultural connection between the river, the people and the land.”