Ready to hit the water: Geoff Turnbull, John Hughes, David Broad and Claire Shanahan.

Paddling for public education

Federation will sponsor union and public education activists Claire Shanahan, David Broad, John Hughes and Geoff Turnbull in the in the 2004 Hawkesbury Canoe Classic on October 30 and 31.

They will be paddling under the banner "Paddlers for Public Education".

Claire and David will each paddle a TK1 (kayak) and John and Geoff will paddle together in a TC2 (canoe).

The Hawkesbury Canoe Classic is an overnight ultra marathon canoe race of 111 kilometres from Windsor to Brooklyn. The first paddler starts at 4pm. Last year more than 600 paddlers took part and $165,000 was raised for the Arrow Foundation, a registered charity which provides funds for cancer research at St. Vincent's Hospital. The Foundation's charter is to fight leukaemia and breast cancer through bone marrow and stem cell transplantation. A further sum of $10,000 was donated to other charities.

Paddlers are required to pay an entry fee of $66 to cover the cost of running the race which ensures that virtually all funds raised go directly to the Arrow Foundation.

Geoff said: "It's a magical experience paddling down the Hawkesbury under the light of a full moon (we hope!), with cyalume lights on each craft glowing (it's really quite surreal) and at the same time raise money for a very worthy cause."

If you are interested in being a sponsor you can contact Claire at shanahan@nswtf.org.au or Geoff at Geoff.Turnbull@det.nsw.edu.au.

For further information

October 2004 contents