THERE were no losers in the five-day 404km Murray Marathon flat water race which ended at Swan Hill.

Despite the shotgun start early each morning, many of the 780 paddlers in 203 vessels had entered the 41st marathon in a spirit of fun and adventure rather than aiming to beat the clock.

This was highlighted on Day 3 when competitors were encouraged to dress up in red.

The prize for ''best dressed'' was won by Anne Gready, of Murtoa, who was one of nine paddlers in the Country Womens Association team Chicks with Attitude who finished second in the open women's relay section.

The Chicks included the oldest competitor in the race, June Field, 76, of Waggarandall, who first took part in 2004, while the youngest competitor Alexis Hawken, 13, of Leitchville, raced as a member of the two-craft Inland Outrigger Canoe team.

One of the more unusual vessels was a paddlesteamer canoe, created by Ray Harkness, known for his creative designs.

Ray was forced to withdraw after persisting with the unwieldy craft for 83km over two days.

The open section of the marathon, and the Margaret Baker Trophy for the handicap leader, was won by Sydney entrant Tony Hystek in a corrected time of 26 hours 7 minutes 52 seconds, 54 minutes ahead of Tasmanian Nick Poltock.

Mr Hystek said his only aim was to finish in less than 30 hours.

After completing his 18th marathon, Rod Clarke, of Echuca, was presented with the Mark Thornthwaite award, awarded since 1991 to commemorate one of the founders of the marathon.

Among the 128 boats which completed the event was just one K4 (four-seater), named Ian Mayes, and crewed by the 16-member relay team 4Play.

They took line honours on Day 2 and finished the race in 28:44:07 seconds.

The team raced in memory of Ballarat obstetrician Ian Mayes, who had competed in the marathon since 2000 but died from cancer last year.

Son Richard said Ian was a keen paddler who had always wanted the family to do the race together.

''We all crewed for him over the years and 10 years ago he said he would love to take a K4 canoe down the river and went out and bought one,'' he said.

''Unfortunately we never got to complete it with him, so when he died we decided to do it this year in his memory and put his name on the boat.''

As well as teams and individual paddlers from across Australia, competitors travelled from Canada, the United States and Singapore.

Among them were international thrill seeker Hillary Kelly, 30, who spent six years in the US Marines, undertook two tours of duty in Iraq and has raced her kayak in seven continents.

Ms Kelly averaged 9kmh over the five days to complete the marathon in 33:55:41.

The marathon was run by the Red Cross for 40 years until 2008, when a record 1060 paddlers, 250 volunteers and more than 3000 crew members took part.

The event is now co-ordinated by YMCA Victoria, aided by a three-year sponsorship deal with VicSuper.