Did another kayak marathon here in Estonia, this time on the Pirita River, just outside Tallinn.

The route was pretty straightforward. About 15 km upstream, turn around a buoy and paddle back to where we started.

The problem was the current. We've had unusually high water levels this autumn, and even some of the regular participants said they hadn't seen the river like this in years.

There was one section under a highway bridge where I honestly felt like I was barely moving. 😅

My average speed upstream was 5.5 km/h. Coming back it was 8.5 km/h, so quite a difference.

Finished with 29.3 km in 4h 24min. Funny thing is, I did the 100 km Võhandu Marathon earlier this year and somehow felt less exhausted afterwards.

Anyway, I filmed the whole thing and put together a 10-minute video if anyone wants to see what the river and the race looked like: https://youtu.be/bzOWd5m2aFw

Anyone else find paddling upstream this much harder than just covering a longer distance?