As you set about devouring the last of the Christmas leftovers, spare a thought for the 750 paddlers who today pushed off from Yarrawonga on one of the longest canoe races in the world, the Red Cross Murray Marathon.
Mild conditions heralded the start of the 39th annual canoe race, but temperatures are set to soar into the 40s as paddlers power along 404kms of the Murray toward the finish line in Swan Hill on New Year's Eve.
'We're looking forward to a bit of calm weather for a start, until everyone gets their river legs, so that later on in the week when it heats up we're all seasoned paddlers. I think we've mastered it now, we're not going to fall out between here and Swan Hill,' says deputy leader of the National Party and MP for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh.
The promise was upheld ... until the first checkpoint, where the team's training regime of tumbling from the canoe didn't stop his parliamentary colleagues from taking another spill.
More than 750 paddlers, 250 Red Cross volunteers and 3000 support crew from throughout Australia and the world converge on the Murray each year.
The event attracts a wide variety of participants - from seasoned paddlers who compete year after year, to novices who come for the camaraderie, a laugh and a sense of accomplishment.
Back on the river for the fourth time and fresh from their annual 'Santa run' through Melbourne, the raucous Black Az team sees the Red Cross Murray Marathon as a chance to work off some excess festive cheer and raise money for a good cause.
'Our special training procedures: none! Our goal was to raise $10,000 and we've done that, and the other goal is to finish. We just like dressing up every year,' says team member Peter Price, who owns the 1927 flat-bed Chevrolet they're using as a support vehicle.
This year's event has already raised more than $300,000, which helps Red Cross deliver services to vulnerable people, from reuniting families separated by war or disaster to helping communities cope after major emergencies such as the Gippsland floods.
The 2006 event was won in record time by Marathon veterans competing in a four-person kayak dubbed the 'superboat' by media across the country. The team is taking a deserved break this year as winner Tim Naughtin adjusts to life as the father of new 'superboat baby' Zoe, and fellow crewman Nev Hargreaves and his partner Catherine prepare for their first child.
The Red Cross Murray Marathon began in the summer of '69 when ten friends raised $250 for the Australian Red Cross.
