A Tongala father and son have returned from South Australia with victory in one of the nation’s most famous river races.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
The Riverland Dinghy Derby is promoted as the wildest boat race on the river and is the dinghy racing world’s equivalent of the Southern 80 ski race.
It is contested on a stretch of Murray River at Renmark that is no place for the faint-hearted, particularly considering part of the course is known as ‘Carnage Corner’.
That makes the victory of Tongala teenager Marley McConnell, and his navigator father, Garry, at the 44th staging of the event even more meritorious.
Competing with his father, better known in the area as ‘Spanner’, at the front of the boat, Marley was at the controls as they took out first place in the 25 horsepower 100km tinny race.
Operating as Little Man Racing, the father-son team has moved from high-risk ski racing into the dinghy racing world.
“After the 2017 ski racing season I decided the risks involved in ski racing were getting harder to deal with and we retired with a nice CV for bragging rights,” Garry said.
“Who knows what the future holds, though.”
For the moment, the focus of the family (with Marley’s mum, Jeynelle, and twin sister, Tamika, watching from the sidelines) is firmly on moving through the ranks of the dinghy racing world — next stop, the various classes of the 30 horsepower division.
Despite his tender years, Marley is no newcomer to having the throttle of an outboard motor in his hand, a five-year apprenticeship leading to a victory at the famous Renmark event.
He passed his restricted boat licence test as a 12-year-old and has regularly taken charge of his family’s ski boat — 10 times more powerful than the tinny in which he won the Riverland race.
For many years, the McConnells raced with renowned ski boat driver Shaun Tomkins, considered one of the best Labsport boat drivers in the country, and the team pushed the limits of ski racing. The same energy is being put into the new water-sport pursuit.
That competition ski boat, Mercury Rising, has a 250 horsepower Mercury outboard engine bolted to the back of the Labsport hull.
Marley’s pedigree is undisputed, his father’s boat holding three Southern 80 records, along with several wins at various renowned ski events, including Sydney Bridge to Bridge, Murray Bridge 110, Hawkesbury, Wentworth, Robinvale and Mildura.
The Riverland event, however, was only Marley’s second race as a tinny driver.
He beat seven other competitors from four states to take the dinghy derby title.
The unique flat-water race was established in 1981 and used open Murray River sections and the network of creeks that feed in and off the mighty waterway.
Teams race in various classes for the glory of becoming one of the select few to win this race on the first Sunday of February each year.
Garry, who operates the 52-year-old third-generation family bus business in Tongala, can probably claim equal credit for the result.
His mechanical skills, hence the nickname ‘Spanner’, were crucial in the development of the boat — although competitors must only run with a standard engine.
In the McConnells’ case, it is a 25 horsepower two-stroke Yamaha engine, bolted to a Stacer 315 aluminium hull. There are some allowances, and the McConnells have been able to modify their propeller and the tinny to prepare it for the rigours of racing.
Speeding through creeks of varying depth, there is always the danger of encountering a submerged log; something the McConnells expertly avoided this year.
Garry said the dinghy derby capped off a huge weekend of racing, with the Friday evening Dash for Cash the lead-up event.
“In the Dash for Cash we were pitted against another boat in out class and raced in and out of marker buoys before reaching a turning point and racing back to the finish line,” Garry said.
“We won both of their heats and had the fastest time, which meant we made the final.”
Racing against a competitor from Sydney, they secured the title and two days later were on the start line for the 100km dinghy derby.
“Conditions were not great, it was 42 degrees with some wind, far from perfect conditions for a 100km race in a boat less than 3m long,” Garry said.
Nonetheless, the Little Man Racing team was out of the blocks quickly and reached the first turn buoy in front.
Not long into the race, the McConnells faced Carnage Corner, the most dangerous section of race, with their rivals nowhere to be seen. They then entered the open river section, passing several 30hp boats in the process, and navigated the four laps of the race without hitting anything or having the boat get too out of control — a common occurrence in dinghy racing with windy conditions on an open river.
The McConnells finished the race a staggering four and half minutes in front of their nearest rival.
Garry said Marley’s rivals described his driving style as “smooth but loose and very fast”.
“The derby is part of a six-race series, which are all held in Renmark, over varying distances, at different courses throughout the year,” Garry said.
“Each race you can accumulate points in the hope of being crowned the series winner. That is our goal.”
This is the team’s third year of racing, but this year there has been a change of roles — Marley in the driver’s seat and his father as navigator.
In 2022, they came third in the series and were runner-up in 2023, placing in most races but never winning a race.
“Come 2024, and we are two from two. The only change has been the driver,” Garry said.
“We both want to thank the Riverland Dinghy Club committee and all of its volunteers for their tireless work to allow us to compete in the wildest boat race on the river.”
Contributor