Done & Dusted (if you get dust with that much rain;))

2010 Hawkesbury Classic is all over and what an event it was beginning to end.

The Certificate!

The weather starting to close in pre start

Off to the Start

Pre start

It all started off great, I got to Sackville on time at 1915, stopped for a brief top up of the water and food & have a stretch (butt/hamstrings sore).I was back on the water at 1940 and had the tough slog to Wisemans Ferry, it was fighting the tide the whole way.I got to Wisemans at midnight and was happy with the time to that point.I remember paddling with a guy on the run to Wisemans and telling them that last year it beat me and it was not going to do it again.
The paddle from Wisemans to the finish was mentally tough, in the first part I was frustrated with my speed and could not seem to get what I thought was a good speed when running with the tide, I could not get above 7.5km/h. As people passed me one after the other, they all asked how are you? My answer was I got nothing left!! I could not break it, it was checkpoint after checkpoint but seemed like I was not getting any closer to Brooklyn. I was starting to think I could not make it. I made the call to stop at the Low Tide Pit-stop for a stretch and a breather to get back on track. What a great move that was! After a coffee and a scone from the volunteers there I was away again and the mood had lifted. when the mood lifted so did the speed, i was back to doing 10's again and with it came the passing of kayaks.
Then the Southerly hit, it was horrible, 1-2 foot chop hitting you head on but unsighted as it was 4am. I was into strong winds and chop, the speeds dropped back to 5's as I joined another guy for the slog home. I got to that checkpoint and now had the Southerly behind me and only a little over 4km to the finish. I was cruising nicely at 7km/h riding the wind swells towards Wilson island. Then in a split second I was hit by a wave at 45* from the rear of about 3 feet, it knocked the paddle from my grasp and next thing i was upside down in the water. With the help of fellow paddlers in a double, Kayak 212, I got back in and bailed out the water and went for home. The swim had given me a second wind, I was not letting Mother Nature beat me and I was giving my all, I had passed a few kayaks that had got by me in my little episode in the water.
I saw the finish line and I was paddling like it was a 500m sprint. I was not going to leave anything in the tanks. I passed a few guys in doubles on the run in.
I was home I had completed my Hawkesbury Classic at my second attempt.
14 Hours 12 Minutes & 39 Seconds

The End

I had done it!

I will add some pics once i get them from everyone who took them.

The Time has Come

It has arrived, the greatest challenge I have ever tried to beat. It go me last year, it will not win this year!

In just under an hour I will be on my way to the start.

4pm start & hopefully off the water by 7am tomorrow morning.

2 Sleeps until the Big Day!!

It is certainly getting close now. less than 48 hours until the 2010 Hawkesbury Classic. This week has certainly been a busy week with me wrapping up my secondment role at work and handing over to the newly employed OHS Advisor. I have been running around picking up the required stuff for the classic and is now all done. I have not packed the gear into bags as yet. I am going to do that tomorrow night.Can't do much more if I am not ready now I cant change anything so what you see is what you get.

I have set myself pretty conservative goals for the paddle, 14-15 hours is my aim, and honestly if all goes to plan I could probably beat 13. After last years DNF I just want to get to Brooklyn and am truly in the Brooklyn or Bust class. Once that box is ticked off maybe next year i will go for a time.

I had my last session of acupuncture on the glutes tonight and it certainly is good. I cant believe it took me this long to start having it done. I have also booked in for a rub down massage on Monday. The Physio is not sure that I will be able to make it in for it :)

On the sponsorship front, Thanks to all that have donated or bought Raffle tickets. I have reached my goal of $1000 raised. $741 online, 264 in raffle tickets & another $15 online to give a total at 8:50pm of $1020 raised. :)

The online sponsorship option may go off-line tomorrow as they lock it out pre-start. Last year it came back on on the Monday or Tuesday so if any of you are waiting to see if I complete the course you can still donate after the event. I will have the cash reciept books for a few weeks yet as well.

This time next week

This time next week I hope to be celebrating finishing the 2010 Hawkesbury Classic. The goal is 15 hours, I know it may be a little conservative but I really only want to finish, anything more is a bonus.

Tried to go for a paddle yesterday but the wind was just too much, I was doing 8km/h just being blown by the wind. It was even hard to paddle downwind as the wind would throw my stroke out. I planed to paddle to Alfords Point Bridge and return. I only got to the head of the Woronora River when I decided that this was too rough and not with either hurting myself or damaging the kayak. It had only taken me 15 minutes to get to here with the wind & tide. It took me almost 40 to get back against both, I dropped at one stage to 3.5km/h. I though I was back on my sit on top kayak :). Worst part was not over. I still had to manage to get the kayak on the car once more. It was tough, I had to wait until the wind gusts eased and then wrestle with it to get it up on the car.

About to go for a gentle run down paddle this morning and then it is a week of carb loading to make sure the energy levels are there for the classic next Saturday afternoon.

4pm next Saturday and the time to see if all the work that has been done is successful, begins.

Weekend Paddles

What can I say, this weekend was a very good series of paddles. It started off with a 21km paddle on the Georges River Saturday morning followed by a 14km Night famil on the Hawkesbury & ended with another 11km on the Woronora yesterday. With less than 2 weeks until the classic it is all starting to fall into place.

Pre Start Briefing

The Saturday night paddle was great, as it was only 14km I went out hard and kept it for the entire paddle. I finished 6th out of the 25 or so paddlers, in 1 hour and 30min (or close to that, no official times as yet). Best part was the final 4km, staying with and then leading home a TK2 :) It shocked Rachelle & Tayla when I paddled over the line, they both thought I would take longer :)

14km done and pretty happy with it all

Saturday night was also a full run down on how to set the kayak up for the main event. I got some funny looks as my kayak looked set up for 111km and not the 14 we were doing. I had powerbars and the like taped to the deck I ad the maps placed the GPS, Compass, spare clothes, the lot all placed as if it was the real event.

Deck all set out

All set to go

Sponsorship Update

The $600 mark has been passed, over $500 online and another $100+ in raffle tickets and Cash.

Thanks to all those that have donated to this great cause.

Big training weekend planned, 20km morning paddle then a night famil paddle of 14km tomorrow night. Another paddle Sunday morning. it is now the time to start to peak and then taper down for the real thing in only 2 weeks time. Carbo loading and diet will also be worked on.

14 sleeps to go!

Oops no training today

Well what can I say, bed was too comfortable today and I could not get up early enought to meet the guys for our planned training paddle @ 0630 this morning. I did not set my alarm last night and when I woke up I really could not get it the rush to make it down to the river in time to meet them.

That said today has had a little success, I am in the process of planning a play-list for the I pod for the classic. If anyone out there has some ideas for what songs should be in my play list please let me know.

I think I may make the I pod part of the Sackville pit stop changes. That way I will have it for what is going to be no doubt the toughest part if this years classic. It will be a 4 hour+ fight against the tide to Wisemans Ferry. I also ordered Waterproof case and earbuds for the I Pod.

Other work that has been done is I have made an extra seat pad with cut outs for my butt cheeks to insert into the seat. I am going to trial it tomorrow morning. It may be good and prove an additional fix to the cramping and butt soreness that is becoming my biggest problem for the classic.

Oh well I will get out for a training paddle tomorrow, this event is getting ever closer.