No, not my Final Fling; well hopefully not anyway. It’s a kayak race on the Mitchell River in Victoria , Australia. “King of the Fling Extreme Kayak Race.”

Saturday I joined a group of club paddlers, organised by Dita Pahl of Canoes Plus Racing Team, (yes I’m a rather slow member) for a 9km paddle down the Mitchell River, from the Den of Nargun rapid to the Final Fling rapid. The first task is carrying your kayak down the 700 metre path into the gorge then across the Iguana creek. I admit dragging my kayak the last bit of the descent.

The landscape is stunning as are the many grade 2 and 3 rapids. I apologise for the lack of photos of the rapids, however, I was otherwise occupied at those moments.

We had time to play on some of the smaller waves

Arriving at the Final Fling rapid it was time to work out my line and have a practice run for tomorrows race.

I lined up the left side drop and tried to get over to the centre. Not far enough to the centre obviously as I ended up running the large hole towards the bottom of the 200 metre rapid. Still I was pretty happy with just getting down in one piece.

Then it was a 200 metre carry back up the rapid to the carpark. No path, just a drag across the rocks and undergrowth.

Back at Echo Bend campsite it was a BBQ and meetup for the group. A great night of fun and games.

Race Day dawned to sunshine and a balmy 4 degrees C in the carpark.

The format was 4 or 5 paddlers starting together up stream of the main rapid, finding their way down the course to touch a banner attached to a rock at the bottom. Sounds easy enough, except the bit about getting down the rather pushy Grade 3 rapid in one piece.

Here’s a few photos to give you an idea of the course.

I was in the Masters category, and certainly the oldest by a long shot. We formed up in the starting position and then off on starters orders.

The top section is moving water with a few rocks and I managed that fairly well. Next came the drop into the main rapid. I was planning to keep left then head to the centre, avoiding some of the larger sections.

That was the cunning plan anyway. I hit the first drop a little bit off course, but thought I could recover. Into the next wave I got even more off line and sideways. I thought, “this is serious” just as the next wave smashed me over.

I tucked into my roll position, and swept the paddle into position just as my body smacked a rock and the paddle impacted another rock and I lost my grip. Upside down,  no paddle, my race was over, except for a rough swim into the hands of the rescue crew. Thanks guys, I appreciated your help.

So “I Flung the Fling and then the Fling Flung me”

Fantastic river trip. Broken paddle. Bruised ego.

As luck would have it, I won a new Werner paddle in the competitors Prize Draw.

Was it worth the 2000km round trip ? Hell yeah !!!.

Thanks to everyone who helped organise the event, volunteered their time and a special thanks to Roy and Dita at Canoes Plus.