I was talking to Jim Morrissey in Galway over the weekend and he asked me to remind people that the Galway paddling marathon is on next weekend.
It's on Saturday and starting at 2pm, so you don't even have to get out of bed early

and you still have Sunday free to watch the All-Ireland football final.
There's an 11km and an 18km course (Liffey was 31km, so this is short). As well as catering for all classes of GP boat he'll also have a class for sea-kayaks.
There's more information at
http://irishmarathoncanoeing.com/calendar/display/id/91