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.
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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.