Hawkesbury Canoe Classic, live.

Overnight down the Hawkesbury River

The Hawkesbury Canoe Classic is an overnight 100 km paddle down the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales, from Windsor to Mooney Mooney, open to almost any paddlecraft.

The 2027 Classic starts on Saturday 23 October and runs through the night into Sunday 24 October. Every race starts from Macquarie Park in Windsor, after a compulsory briefing at 2:45 pm, and the start times for each class are published on the organiser's start times page.

The full 100 km finishes at Deerubbun Reserve in Mooney Mooney. Two shorter options use the same start. The Sackville Sprint ends after 30 km at the Sackville Ferry, checkpoint D, and the Wisemans Dash ends after 60 km at Wisemans Ferry, checkpoint I. Those two checkpoints are also where landcrews can meet their paddlers.

The field is broad, from single kayaks to outriggers and dragon boats, and paddlers must be 15 or older. More than 200 paddlers usually take part, there are 17 checkpoints on the river, and around 300 volunteers keep the night running safely.

The Classic is also a fundraiser, and money raised by paddlers goes to the Arrow charity. Since 1994 the Classic has given more than 4 million dollars to Arrow, which supports bone marrow transplant patients and research. The organiser publishes paddler maps of the river as PDF files, and every craft must carry waterproof hard copy maps.

On Livebib you can follow a paddler live if they choose to share their own position from the phone they carry on board, for example in a dry bag. That position comes from the paddler, not from the organiser's timing, and the official results are published by the organiser.