Geelong Canoe Club's marathon come and try race on Sunday 31 May 2026 was a great success. Forty-nine participants had a great day paddling in windy conditions while raising funds for two of our young athletes who have made it to this year's world championships:

• Alexis Jane who has been selected in the Australian Under 23 Marathon team. Alexis is heading to the World Under 23 Canoe Marathon Championships on 22-25 October 2026 in Argentina.
• Thomas Russell who has been selected in the Australian Junior Sprint kayak team. Tom is heading to the World Junior & Under 23 Canoe Sprint Championships on 1-5 July 2026 in Halifax Canada.

The course required participants to race in 6km laps between Geelong Canoe Club and Queens Park Bridge with a choice of 3 kms, 6kms, 12kms, 18kms distances.

While the event wasn't about winning participants are always interested in how they went on the day, for results see:

• Marathon come and try fundraising race for Alexis and Thomas - 31 May 2026 - results (updated 01/06/26)

A huge thank you to our volunteers, particularly organiser Pete Currie, for bringing this event together and driving its success.

It's never too late to help our athletes get to the championships

If you couldn't make it to the fundraising event but would like to support these young athletes you can make a donation through their Australian Sports Foundation fundraising pages:

• Alexis's fundraising campaign page is: https://asf.org.au/campaigns/alexis-jane
• Thomas's fundraising campaign page is: https://asf.org.au/campaigns/thomas-russell/junior-world-championships-2026--halifax--canada

Our permit to run this event: Declaration of Boating Activity Exemption from Corangamite CMA

Image 1: Alexis and Thomas. Image 2: Race start.