Outrigger Canoe NSW State Marathon OC6 Titles

by Jeannie Brown on 19 Apr 2012 The Port Stephens Outrigger Canoe Club will once again be hosting the prestigious NSW State Marathon Titles at Shoal Bay Beach on the weekend of 28th-29th April, 2012.

The race program for six-person outrigger canoes starts on Saturday 28th April with juniors and novices at 8am and runs all day, finishing with the last race of the day, the Men’s marathon, starting at 2.30pm.

The day will be filled with short course races of 10 kilometres and the longer 18 kilometre marathon races for women, mixed teams and men, where the crews race out through the heads of the Port towards Fingal Head, then turning to go around Little Island and Cabbage Tree Island before returning to Shoal Bay.

There will be a State Titles medals presentation held at Shoal Bay Resort & Spa (sponsors of the regatta) at 7pm on Saturday.

The regatta will continue on the Sunday with the 'Mother of All Races', the Port Stephens Twin Peaks Scramble, sponsored by 'Mother' in association with Shoal Bay Resort & Spa.

The race, open to all outrigger canoes and skis, starts from Shoal Bay wharf at 10am. Entrants race across the Port where one team member will run to the top of Yacaaba Head to collect a token, the team then races to Tomaree Head where another team member races to the top to collect another token. The crews then race to the Shoal Bay finish line.

Outrigger canoe paddling has its origins in the development and spread of the coastal culture of the Pacific rim region about 30,000 years ago.

Outrigger canoe racing, though, is a relatively young sport in Australia. The first Outrigger Canoe Club in Australia was formed in 1978, with the Port Stephens Outrigger Canoe Club forming in 1995.