The Mawson Lakes Sailing Marathon
- Thursday 15 Jan 2026.

Its been run and won. Our most succesful yet with over 30 entrants.

2026 Annual Marathon Report by Adrian Heard

Well, what a wonderful sight that was – 32 boats of all sorts of configurations on the same start line. All major ARYA classes were represented including Ten Rater, Marblehead, A Class, International One Metre, DF95, DF65 and RC Laser, along with the Focus and the local ML45. Also, most of Adelaide’s radio-controlled yacht clubs were represented – Adelaide Radio Control Yacht Racing Club from the Patawalonga, The South Australian Radio Yacht Club from West Lakes and Sailing at Lightsview – along with Wallaroo Sailing Club and Patterson Lakes Radio Model Yacht Club from Melbourne.

The Mawson Lakes Marathon has proven to be a fun event which is generally sailed in a friendly manner where all classes of RC yachts can mix together. Yesterday, again proved what an important concept this is for the development of RC yachting in South Australia. The organisers were very pleased to see members of all the different clubs mixing with each other and enjoying the event.

This year the event was sailed in mild overcast conditions with a variable 8-15 knot south westerly breeze. As is typical of Mawson Lakes, there were sections of the lake where the breeze became variable including the south-west corner of the lake and the Promenade area. There were several very gusty patches while boats were passing under the bridge on the way to the Promenade. With the exception of the large DF95 group, most other classes had a mixture of A and B rigs.

The wide start line worked well and allowed the Marbleheads and Ten-Raters to comfortably move away from the rest of the fleet. But similarl to this year’s Sydney to Hobart, the larger boats didn’t have it all their own way. The wind wasn’t strong enough for boats to gain full speed and this was reflected in the finishing time of the first boat – Simon How in an IOM – of 28 minutes; well behind Tony White’s previous record of 22 minutes.

There were some stand out performances of the day. Stephen Cibich, Danny James and Cameron White all sailed very well in their DF95s to finish not far behind the leading IOMs of Simon How and Johan Bergkvist. Lindsay Sawyer also sailed an excellent race in an ML45 to finish in 5th place overall. Sylvia Nieuwenhuizen sailed well to bring her ML45 home in 23rd place and Marty Hoffensetz deserves a special mention for persisting and completing the race in his DF65.

The top three finishers (overall position in brackets) in each class were -:

Thanks go to a whole bunch of volunteers for making the event such a success. Peter Murfett and Ian Caddy operated the recovery boat. Rose Ross, Rosemary Murfett and Meredith Reardon were scorers. Stewart Ross was the Race Officer.

Bob Whitehead made all the trophies. John Fulbrook MP cooked the barbeque and presented the trophies.

Gaynor Kouwenhoven, Gerry Geibel, John Moore and others helped organise the event and managed the logistics on the day. Chris Levi and I managed the event.

Thanks to all the sailors who took the time to attend and participate. Hope to see you all again in 2027.

The 2026 Marathon Trophy Results

Laser Class ... Adrian Heard

ML 45 Class ... Lindsay Sawyer

DF95 Class ... Stephen Cibich

IOM Class ... Simon How

10R/MH/A ... Tony White

Overall Fastest  ... Simon How IOM

Lucky Last ... Marty Hoffensetz

 The 2025 Marathon Trophy Results

Laser Class John Nieuwenhuizen

ML 45 Class ,,, Brian Marshall

DF95 Class Cameron White

10R/MH/A/IOM Tony White

Fastest ... Tony White 10R

The 2024 Marathon Trophy Results

Laser Class ...  Adrian Heard

ML 45 Class ,,, Mark Easton

DF95 Class ...  Brian Marshall

10R/MH/A/IOM ...  Tony White 

Fastest ... Tony White 10R  27m 23s

 Updated: 11:22 18 Jan 2026