The longest leg of the race (96 km) allowed the formidable K4 ‘super-boat’ to put even more distance between them and their closest competitors, with the quad breaking today’s record by five minutes, in five hours, 45 minutes and 41 seconds.

“We hope we can take the record, but it’s only day two. Anything can happen,” said Simon Stenhouse of Canberra, who joined forces with veteran Marathon paddler Nev Hargreaves of Yarrawonga and former Australian Kayak Team members, Tim Naughtin of Corowa and Michael Leverett of Melton. The team is on track to take out line honours each day and break the outright fastest time record. Most importantly, though, they want to be the first team to break the 25-hour barrier and at the end of the second day they are on track for this, currently 19 minutes under the record.

Among the 700 competitors in this year’s race is relative newcomer to the paddling scene, Liz Winn, from Wyoming NSW, who carved up the record in the veteran women’s recreational kayak class, coming in almost two hours under the previous record. “It’s very relaxed. Imagine how boring it would be paddling 96 km alone without my MP3 player,” says Winn, who took to paddling only 18 months ago and is tackling the full 404 km distance.

The first junior over the line today was Queensland teenager Nathan Casford.

With just over half the 404 km distance to go, the camaraderie is growing between land crews as they rally on the banks with giant cupcake mascots, colourful banners, group hugs and vocal chants. Leaving Tocumwal this morning, the land crews trekked between checkpoints in the rugged Barmah and Millewa State Forests to Picnic Point. The race takes paddlers to Echuca tomorrow.

Many competitors are thankful that last year’s sweltering heat has eluded paddlers so far, none more than the three Tasmanians in boat 304, who crossed the line second today in a time of six hours, 45 minutes and 49 seconds. “The cooler conditions helped us keep the pace up today, with the boat flowing along fairly well,” says Gary Henderson, whose team-mate Steven Dineen has paddled across the Bass Strait and solo ’round Tasmania.

The Murray is far from the croc-infested river where a six-person team from remote Mt Isa, the ‘Outback Scrubbers’, often trains. “Where we live is very isolated, so it’s good to get away and see the country,” says Ken Glasco, president of the North West Canoe Club in Queensland. Even though their boat was damaged on the 2600 km journey down the Birdsville Track, the urgent repairs are holding together: the Outback Scrubbers are topping their class.

The Red Cross Murray Marathon began in the summer of ’69 when ten school friends came together to battle the Murray and raise $250 for the Australian Red Cross. Last year’s event generated more than $350,000 for vital Red Cross services, including the work recently undertaken by Red Cross Emergency Services volunteers in areas affected by bushfires.

Each year, on 27 December, around 3000 land crew and 400 volunteers rally around the paddlers as they traverse the Murray River from Yarrawonga to Swan Hill, forming a moving tent city in towns along the way. The race draws a myriad of boats, from canoes and kayaks to surf skis, pedal-powered and life-saving boats and even one made from corrugated iron

It’s all downhill from tomorrow, the third day of the race, when paddlers pass the half-way mark on their way to Ecucha. The paddlers who look sure to set the pace from the starting gun are the foursome tackling the full Marathon in their ‘super boat’, the Tasmanian relay team, and school relay group Woodleigh Water Ratz, who crossed the line third today.