Sixteen paddlers assembled under the Breakfast Creek Bridge at 6.15am on Saturday 30th April. It may have been 2 minutes after sunrise, but we wouldn’t have known with the clouds and drizzle. The Time Lord takes control, we synchronise the start of our stopwatches as instructed.
At one minute, Nikki departs. Can she hold off the chasers?
Judy follows at 3 minutes 30 seconds, then Sally another minute later.
David C , Mike and Don leave at 6 minutes 30 seconds. Will they work together to chase the ladies?
Departures are more consistent now, Peter at 7m15s, David K and Tom at 8m15s, Ben at 9minutes and Todd another 15sec later. Rhett has a 15sec advantage on Richard and Ray at 10minutes, before the “big guns” in Gavin and George fire off at 10m30s.
We hug the southern (Bulimba) bank paddling 3km into the current towards the turnaround buoy near the Cairncross Dock. Nikki leads around the buoy, but the field is compressing. George has broken away from Gavin and is heading through the field, and Rhett is looking strong. Can those out front hold on for the return leg with the current?
Sally has overtaken Nikki for the lead, with Mike and Rhett chasing hard as the paddlers re-enter Breakfast Creek. It’s a blanket finish, but Sally holds on for the win, with the podium covered by half a boat length. Peter and George are a boat length back. A small gap to David K, with Ray and Don hot on his heels. Ben is not much further, with Judy, Nikki and Tom. Gavin leads Richard and we have 14 of the field home within 1 minute. Then small gaps to Todd and David C.
Another great win for Sally, George collects best time for the day (28min 40sec - 12.6kph average), and sub-30min times for Rhett, Ray, Gavin and Richard are always worth a mention. Not forgetting a masterful effort from the Time Lord to allocate handicaps with all 16 paddlers finishing within 90 seconds.
And great company to enjoy coffee at MICA!
