Oar-some: Massive Murray Paddle competitors start stage four from Moama Beach.
Photo by
Adair Winder
New Zealand competitor Sean Murphy is on top of the Massive Murray Paddle standings following the first three days of competition, leading the pack into Moama Beach on Wednesday afternoon.
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Murphy won Wednesday’s 76km stage from Picnic Point to Moama Beach in a time of six hours, seven minutes and three seconds.
Event organiser Shannon O’Brien said the speed at which Murphy had completed the first three stages had been phenomenal.
“He is just ridiculously fast, but he’s an ultra-marathon specialist for lots of different sports, it’s ridiculous how fast he is.”
O’Brien said the competition was far from over however, and with 161km still to paddle over two days, there was still time for Murphy to be caught.
“He has a really good competitor from Far North Queensland, a guy named Mark Murray. I know Mark has really crept up, so there’s a good competition between the two which is awesome.”
Murray is sitting in second position overall, 29 minutes and 27 seconds back from Murphy, who has won every stage so far in a total of 21 hours and nine seconds.
Full steam ahead: Massive Murray Paddle competitors pass the iconic paddle steamers at Echuca Wharf at the start of stage four.
Photo by
Adair Winder
Having started on Monday, this year’s edition has seen competitors completing a brand new 415-kilometre course over five days, which has increased the competition says O’Brien, owner of Sydney-based Sydney Harbour Kayaks.
“Now that we’ve extended it so that we’ve got the 415km, we’re seeing that there’s a big chunk of our paddlers that are taking it really seriously, because this is the first year of the new distance.
“That means the record books are getting reset, so everyone wants to make sure that they secure a record for this first year and then after that it’s up to them to defend it.”
The Canoe Brothers team consisting of James Miller and Stephen Routley have a commanding lead over the next best double-canoe team, ending day three more than one hour and 25 minutes ahead of the Yung Things pairing of Annette Boath and Frank Kingma in the overall standings.
Days four and five will see competitors complete the same 80.5-kilometre stretch from Moama Beach to Torrumbarry Weir, with the winner estimated to finish around 3pm on Friday.
