I am tenacious.

This I learned during the long, dark hours spent kayaking down the Hawkesbury River from 4.14pm on Saturday 24 October until 6.08am on Sunday 25.

When I kept paddling on despite tiredness and lack of form, the word “tenacity” kept coming into my mind.

While I paddled along the bushy banks of the wide river, with low moonlight, some hazy stars and mesmerising phosphorescence, I was tenacious.

And finally, when at 4.15am I decided that I could and should finish in under 14 hours if I pushed even harder, that tenacity saw me through to the finish.