Albury's Peter Charlesworth in stand-up paddle board world record

Peter Charlesworth on Sunday June 11, 2023, ended a stand-up paddle board odyssey over approximately 2685 kilometres to outdo a mark of 2641 kilometres set on India's Ganges River in 2016-17.

"It's amazing, it's just incredible," he said from Goolwa near the Murray's mouth in South Australia.

"It's been 99 days and it's been completely immersive and I've had a bit of adversity with the weather, particularly with the two big lakes at the end but I'm thankful to be through that and to now be heading home."

Traversing lakes Alexandrina and Albert, the father was forced to wait over three separate four-day stretches for satisfactory conditions, including when he was within sight of the river mouth.

"It was too unsafe to paddle on with 70km/h winds, so I had to wait for the wind to subside," Mr Charlesworth said.

After being greeted by 250 well-wishers at Goolwa on Saturday June 10, 2023, Mr Charlesworth completed his adventure with a circumnavigation of Hindmarsh Island on the following day.

He will now submit GPS data, a logbook, photos, videos and witness statements to Guinness World Records to have his new distance ratified.

The former surf lifesaver was inspired to steer his 4.2 metre board down the Murray to raise awareness for cardiac health after having open heart surgery in 2020.

He has raised $7600 with donations able to be made at sup4health2023.org.

Having set off in March, Mr Charlesworth said his legs were "all good" despite the rigour.

"When I was under full steam in the first month and a half I was doing a marathon, 40 to 50 kilometres a day, whereas I now feel fatigued after 25 kilometres, so it was starting to eat into my reserves a bit," he said.

An estimated 15 kilograms was shed from his 98-kilogram frame across the months.

Mr Charlesworth's most alarming moment was at 2am in the Barmah Forest when a feral boar loomed close to his tent.

"It was screaming and grunting and growling," Mr Charlesworth said.

"I banged pots and pans and I turned a podcast up as loud as I could to give it a hurry up and it left."

More appealing interactions with wildlife included seeing an echidna swimming on the side of the river, a brown snake sunbathing on a rock alongside Lake Hume and an azure kingfisher swooping down to pluck a fish from the water.

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