Surfboat racers celebrate completion of the George Bass Marathon after seven days of rowing

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A surfboat race which claims to be the longest and toughest of its kind in the world has marked a milestone 50th year on the New South Wales south coast. After seven days of rowing, hundreds of competitors celebrated completing the George Bass Marathon on the shores of Eden.

Transcript

00:00A gruelling race finally coming to an end.

00:06We finished!

00:07We got it!

00:08Seven days!

00:09Seven days!

00:10How are you blisters people?

00:12The marathon along the NSW coast began in Batemans Bay last Sunday.

00:17After seven legs, in at times tough conditions, it finished in Eden this morning.

00:21For some, emotions were running high.

00:24Have you done this before Gavin?

00:27Yeah.

00:28Sorry.

00:29He's done it quite a few times, right from when he was a lot younger, so it's quite emotional

00:39at the end.

00:41The George Bass Surf Boat Marathon began in 1975 and surf skis were added to the race

00:46in the 90s.

00:47Participants travelled from across Australia and New Zealand to take part in the race.

00:53Many didn't leave unscathed.

00:55A bit of butt chafage for one of the girls, a bit of a torn hamstring, someone else, yeah.

01:00A bit of inbex, you know, it's just the typical things.

01:02I've got a blue bottle wrapped around my stomach and my legs at the same time.

01:06My hands aren't too bad, the calluses on calluses aren't too bad.

01:10Chris Mercer took part in the first race in his early 20s and is still racing at 71 years

01:15old.

01:16Rowing part is okay, the problem these days is getting in the boat.

01:20After rowing 190 kilometres over seven days, these competitors are celebrating the end

01:25to the marathon.

01:26There's a sense of elation and achievement in the air, but there's also evidence of exhaustion.

01:32We're all mums as well, so you know, you should be able to show your kids that anything's

01:36possible and give anything a go and just chuck yourself in there, it's really cool.

01:39It's just a challenge, you know, the largest race in the world, you know, mental toughness,

01:45I just wanted to do it.

01:48Work hard to play hard.

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