Wow, only 5 weeks until the RPM – I can hardly believe it!

This weekend, we had the B2B – 2 days of Marathon Paddling on the Murray River at Swanport – near Murray Bridge.  This year, for something different, the B2B also incorporated the State Marathon Championships for the first time.

With a weather report predicting pretty horrid conditions the numbers were down a little, but in the end they were nowhere near as bad as predicted.  Sure, Saturday saw us with winds around the 30km/h mark with a few heavier gusts., but as it was across the river in the end it had very little impact on the event, We were even fortunate in that the temperatures were in the mid teens, so it actually made for very comfortable paddling.

This morning, just before sunrise the river was spectacular!  and as the sun came up, it warmed up again to the mid-teens and the wind was 5-15km/h.

In the end, we had 43 boats start on Saturday and 29 Starters for Sunday, but that was sort of to be expected with the Singles for the State Marathon Championships on Saturday and the doubles on Sunday there were several that paddled in Singles on Saturday and Doubles on Sunday.

Now, if I go back and look at my 2013 B2B, I was just a tad faster.  I put this down to me seeing a little bit of paddle coaching and trying to correct a few issues I have.

This year, due to the state Championships, the course was ever so slightly different and the same on both days.

• Day 1  – 2:25:24 for 20.3km (8.37 km/h)
• Day 2 – 2:23:58 for 20.3km (8.46 km/h)

The good news, after last year’s B2B I was still questioning if I would do the RPM 200 or just the 100, well after the weekend it confirmed that Yep, 200 here I come.

Oh, and the state Marathon Championships – I scored a 3rd.