Paddlers for Public Education on the Hawkesbury River with other Canoe Classic participants.

Public education gets profile in canoe classic

Public education received a profile once again at the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, an overnight ultra marathon canoe race.

Paddlers for Public Education team members Claire Shanahan, David Broad, Renae Watkins, Lawrence Brayne, Brian Allen, John Turnbull and Geoff Turnbull paddled 111 kilometres each from Windsor to Brooklyn.

Geoff Turnbull said the Paddlers for Public Education t-shirts bearing the NSW Teachers Federation logo "prompted a number of positive comments from other paddlers and land crew members".

"The night was very cold and for the first two hours we battled a strong headwind which fortunately then dropped. We had a quarter moon until midnight after which we paddled for several hours in complete darkness which made navigation difficult. However, it was a cloudless, starry night and early on Sunday morning we paddled into Brooklyn in brilliant sunshine," he said.

"We were certainly tested on the night but the sense of achievement at the end, the money raised and the promotion of public education makes it all worthwhile.

"We want to thank everyone who contributed to this very worthy cause and particularly the NSW Teachers Federation for their sponsorship and the Newcastle Trades Hall Council and the Randwick College Association for their generous support."

The team raised $5000 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.

Geoff Turnbull also paid tribute to the team's land crews: "Without our wonderful land crews our success would not have been possible. They met us at our two pit-stops with hot food and drinks, helped our aching bodies back into the canoes and sent us off with warm words of encouragement. The achievement of the team belongs as much to the land crews as to the paddlers."

If you are interested in joining the paddlers in next year's Classic as part of the Paddlers for Public Education team email Claire at Claire.Shanahan@bigpond.com or Geoff at Geoff.Turnbull@det.nsw.edu.au.

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