The Gregory River Canoe Marathon 2025 – a paddler’s perspective
It is 4am and I am sitting in the caravan at Melish Park, waiting for the dawn and the commencement of our 3000km journey back home. The race was held yesterday (4 May 25) and our little band of merry men and women are recovering from a hard day at the office.
Let me start by saying the Gregory is not just a race, it is an adventure. 2025 was the 50th year for the event and we were fortunate enough to join another 143 racers, paddling the 38km long course or the 15km short course. An array of boats included TC1 , TC2 , k1, tk1, tk2, skis of varying lengths and importantly, SUPs. I take my hat off to anyone who paddles a SUP in moving water over that distance, you are champions.
Our party included Judy and Rod Clark from Echuca, Frank Kingma and Valmai Moor from Burleigh Heads, Karen and Stephen Routley from Melbourne, Robyn and Geoff Hocking from Rockhampton and Trish and I from Brisbane via Perth. So everyone travelled a looong way. We camped on the river for 6 days during which time we had a few practice runs prior to the race. We also had the opportunity to repair our boats after each practice.
The river includes a number of level 1 and level 2 rapids dispersed by long still pools. The North West Canoe Club does a great job of scouting the river and removing particularly hazardous obstacles, as the river changes every year. Some well known rapids include Carnage Leap, Wipeout Bend, Kamaga Falls and Galloping Jacks. You get the sense that boat damage is a familiar outcome. Accordingly, many of the competitors use older robust craft with plenty of bog.
Prior to the race, NWCC puts on a fabulous dinner cooked in camp ovens at a very modest price. This allows the competitors to socialise and meet up with the hosts that support this event. Being the 50th year there were a number of special guests including some of the originals who started the race. It was great to speak with some of them and understand how it was done in the early days.
The race was duly conducted and many smiling faces were evident at the finish. No doubt there were many butt clenching moments for most. Some boats were wearing a substantial amount of tape but most made it to the finish. NWCC had set up tents at the finish and food was available so sitting for a short time was a pleasant activity. It was nice watching the paddlers families playing is the shallow water . This is a real family affair, probably best demonstrated by the Van Ryt family who paddled tc2 relay and included their 91 year old matriarch.
At the presentations we heard from Aunty Jenny McKillop who spoke about seeing the first race as an 11 year old girl. She asked what the strange coloured logs were. Little did she know that 50 years later those logs would still be coming. NWCC also acknowledged the paddlers who had accumulated 30, 20 or 10 marathons, which are all great achievements.
Our group did fairly well, with a couple of race records and good results in the short course. It is not about the placing it is a whole week experience which happens to culminate in a race. This is a bucket list event, which paddlers need to do and is arguably the best marathon race in Australia.
Finally I want to acknowledge the many sponsors who significantly contribute to make this event a great success. The list of sponsors would do any international paddling event proud and is evidence of the strong community support provided by the people of Mt Isa and surrounds.
I will be back.
