Marley McConnell is a picture of concentration as he guides he and his father to victory in four of six races at the Riverland Dinghy Club’s championship event last month.
A father and son river racing combination from Tongala has won a division of the Riverland Dinghy Club’s 2024 championships late last month after dominating the last round of the “Tinny” titles.
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Marley McConnell was the driver and his father, Garry “Spanner” McConnell, was navigator in the two man team — known as Little Man Racing — which won the 25 horsepower section of the river racing competition.
The club is based at Renmark in South Australia and boats race on the Murray River and local creek system.
Marley and his father competed in six races at the championship round, winning four of them and finishing second in the remaining two.
Seventeen-year-old Marley guided the Victorian raiders to first in the Dash 4 Cash, Dinghy Derby (which they won by more than four minutes), the Hunchee Run and the Enduro, where they dominated the field to win by six minutes.
The hunchee run is contested almost entirely in the creeks that run off the Murray River, while the other disciplines involve short form and long form racing for the competitors.
Marley McConnell (third from left) with the spoils of victory and other winners from the various divisions of the Riverland Dinghy Club's championships last month.
The McConnells almost pulled off a clean sweep, beaten in the Circuit race by just two and a half seconds and losing the Amazon sprint by one second.
These results were enough to give the pair a much sought after championship victory.
They finished third in the 2022 championship, then runner-up in 2023 — before claiming this year’s title.
Former ski racers and regulars at events like Echuca-Moama’s Southern 80 right up until 2018, the pair moved from that sport to “Tinny” racing in 2022 and last year was the winner of the 25 horsepower division’s 100km dingy derby.
With a modified propeller, powered by a two-stroke Yamaha engine, bolted to a Stacer 315 aluminium hull, they have gradually become regarded as the best partnership in their division.
A proud father said Marley had driven brilliantly throughout the hectic schedule, not hitting any snags or banks all year.
“He has learned a lot about boat set up, prop selection and the art of racing.
“Racing is a hell of a lot of fun, but takes a lot out of you. We are doing 72km/h in the open water at some points, so the boat was airborne a lot of time.
“Both of us were very happy when racing was over, we didn’t have too much more to give.’’
Marley wore a Gopro on his helmet, with footage soon to be available on his Facebook site.
Garry McConnell (at the front of the boat) takes responsibility for guiding his teenage son Marley through the creeks that were part of the dinghy racing derby course in South Australia.
