Throwing up in a hospital bed on Saturday and winning Molokai on Sunday- if anyone could pull it off, it's probably Lachie Lansdown.
After a couple years of hiatus (following five 2nd place finishes at Molokai), the Australian paddler is officially back on the scene. Lansdown came over to the states with a goal- to finally claim his stock title.
However, things took a turn as race day approached. Lachie ended up spending the day and night before the race in the hospital after coming down with the flu. He wasn't sure if racing would be an option for him until the next morning, the day of Molokai. He felt pretty shit, but decided to start the race anyways. "I took a handful of painkillers, and I just wanted to start and see what would happen. Once we got in the bump it was good and I knew I could hold my own".
After 5 hours and 9 minutes, he hit his goal, claiming the Stock Champion title and coming in fourth paddler overall to cross the channel that day. "It wasn't the perfect race" Lachie said at the finish, shrugging nonchalantly. "But we're here".
Now, Landsown will be returning to competition in Catalina come the 25th of this month, a race he has won 4 times, and still holds the stock record in (5:38:06). We're stoked to see how he matches up against this year's crop of California's best. Lansdown will be racing in the stock division against heavy hitters like Foster Campbell, Davy Thomas, Lockwood Holmes, Toa Pere, and Donald Miralle- who are all Catalina veterans.
We're looking forward to watching the race and seeing how it all shakes out. Good luck Lachie! See ya in the Channel.
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