Great Scott, he’s done it

By Justin Robertson
KOOWEERUP’S intrepid traveller Peter Scott has crossed the Simpson Desert on a motorbike, sailed around the Whitsundays, driven a racing car and travelled around Australia.
He can now add paddling the flood-ravaged Murray River to his list of feats.
The 50-year old took part in the 42nd annual VicSuper Murray Marathon five-day event last month – Australia’s longest flat water paddling event, which starts in Yarrawonga and heads downstream through Tocumwal, Picnic Point and Murrambit before finishing in Swan Hill.
It was the first time Scott has paddled in the 404km event.
“After day two, it was something we thought we’d never do again, but after day four, we decided we’d certainly want to do it again. It was fantastic,” Scott said.
“To see the river from that point of view – drifting along at 10-15km an hour – and to see bits of it I’ve never seen, was really good.”
Scott was part of an eight-man team called the “Nationals”. The team included new Minister for Agriculture and Water Peter Walsh and close friend Tim McCurdy, the Member for Murray Valley, who invited Scott to take part. The average leg for each paddler was 20km, but it depending on fitness levels.
“Keeping in the boat, which was very narrow, was extremely challenging,” Scott said.
“We had to keep the boat’s momentum going, otherwise we’d fall out.
“But, we also had to know how to pace ourselves over 25 kilometres. You didn’t want to go hard at the start and find with five kilometres to go, you’d “had it”.
“We used signposts on the side of the river to work out where we were and how far we had to go.”
Like any outdoor enthusiast, Scott said he had to train for the event to make sure he was well equipped to handle the trying conditions on the Murray.
He started practising in a single kayak in his dam at home, then progressed to Bunyip River where he would paddle from Longwarry to Kooweerup. Once he had the basics down pat, he and Mr McCurdy met at Cobram and tackled the two-man kayak in preparation for the long five-day journey.
Scott has some sound advice for paddlers planning on tackling the mighty Murray.
“If you think you’ve done enough training, go out and do some more … because you can never do too much,” he said.
“You are in a boat for two hours at a time, it’s very cramped and your shoulders start to get sore within 20 minutes – more training would be a huge help.”
Scott’s team covered more than 330 kilometres, but were unable to complete the final day due to a total fire ban – where temperatures soared above 40 degrees.
“We feel like we’ve been cheated a bit by not doing the extra kilometres,” he said. “But we’ll be doing it next year, for sure.”