Sport
30 April, 2025
Paddle legend to be immortalised in Gregory River
A piece of Ron Snow will remain in the Gregory forever after this weekend.
The name Ron Snow is synonymous with paddling in Mount Isa and the North West, so it is fitting that the one-time local legend will be immortalised this weekend.
The late champion, who passed away in 2022, will have the last of his ashes scattered in the Gregory River as daughter Mellissa and son Hilton make the trip from NSW to be there for the 50th anniversary of the iconic event.
Speaking to North West Weekly, Mellissa said she hadn’t been back to Mount Isa for almost 30 years.
“It was the year Princess Diana died (1997),” she recalled
“That’s the only way I can remember it because I came up for a wedding and that had just happened.”
The Snow family left Mount Isa for Lismore when Mellissa was 15, but the paddle legend’s daughter has fond memories of the region.
“It was pretty cool,” she said of being the daughter of someone who was then a local celebrity.
“Dad was always in the paper,and we were always travelling somewhere and he was always doing really well in the canoe races that he went to.
“We were pretty proud and impressed to have someone that was a bit of a legend. It gave us a lot of chances to travel because of his love of canoeing.
“We spent a lot of time out at (Lake Moondarra) while dad was paddling on Sundays with the canoe club and I still remember our fabulous trips away to Gregory, which was a kid’s dream.
“It’s going to be interesting to go back with adult eyes and see where we used to camp and what it looks like now.”
Not only was Ron Snow a champion on the water, but he also became an accomplished canoe maker in Mount Isa, providing many locals with their first vessel.
“Dad was always coming into the house with fibreglass stuck to him, which didn’t impress mum!” Mellissa exclaimed.
“I’m not really sure how (the canoe making) started but he would have made hundreds over the years. Some people still use them.”
Mellissa said the idea of scattering the last of his ashes down the Gregory River was a family decision, rather than her dad’s.
“We have interred the majority of his ashes into a cemetery outside of Lismore. That was his wish because of a very famous piano player that’s buried there called Winifred Atwell,” she said.
“But I kept some of the ashes because I think we had that feeling that we’d like to come back to Gregory one day. It just happened that they’re celebrating the 50-year anniversary this year.
“I thought, what a great idea for us to go up for that.
“Hilton will paddle on Sunday and take dad’s ashes down with him in his life jacket; then see what we’ll do with them after, maybe disperse them and let him just go on his way. I think he would be pretty happy with that. He would be chuffed.”
Mellissa said she was glad to hear the Gregory race was still going ahead, even though the past two years had been cancelled due to high river levels.
“I have so many good memories from Gregory,” she said.
“There was a lot of camaraderie between everybody. Everybody was close.”
