2344 paddlers finished the 19th VÔhandu Marathon.
On April 20, at seven o'clock in the morning on Saturday, the start of the world's largest paddling marathon was given in the small Estonian town VÔru. A total of 2,787 participants from 29 countries registered for the 19th VÔhandu Marathon. In the morning, 1178 boats started, of which 1032 crossed the finish line. There was no new record of finishers, as one more boat finished last year's VÔhandu Marathon.
The VÔhandu Marathon is a 100-kilometer adventure sports event in Estonia that takes place every year in April, in which thousands of paddlers from many foreign countries take part. The marathon runs from Lake Tamula to VÔÔpsu boat harbor. It is everyone's story about the river, beauty and pain, suffering and pleasure.
First place went to France for the first time. Pieter Paauw and François Boucher in the K2MEN class finished with a time of 07:42:01, edging Czech competitors Lukas Horak and Oldrich Dasek (K2MEN, time 07:42:04) by just three seconds. Estonian men Andres Kaju and Indrek Kermon came third with a time of 07:51:36.
The first women, Estonians Eve KĂŒlasalu and Sigrid Leetsi, in the K2WOM class, took 33rd place overall with a time of 09:04:03.
The last boat, the 1032nd placed boat, reached the finish line on Sunday morning with a time of 23:40:43.
We welcome all paddling enthusiasts from around the world to the 20th VÔhandu Marathon on April 19, 2025, the anniversary year.
The VÔhandu Marathon photo bank is free for journalists to use. Photos include the author's name. https://www.vohandumaraton.ee/en/gallery/
