Mark Rathmell

Restaurant Owner, Kayak Marathon competitor

Place of birth: Melbourne, Victoria

Year of birth: 1956 (??)

Lived in Launceston: 37 Years

“Having moved from Sydney as a young couple with Samantha around 22 years ago, I fell in love with Tasmania and the outdoors. As a chef Tasmania had so much to offer, the terrain also offered many varied pursuits for me. Rock climbing in the Gorge, Mountain bike racing and Triathlon.
After a 10 year stint and Country Club Casino as Executive Chef and Food and Beverage Manager the opportunity to buy the iconic Gorge Restaurant came up, within a year we also opened the Basin Cafe. Now my two passions were in one the outdoors and Food. The natural surrounds of the two restaurants would be hard to beat anywhere in the world. I then came into kayak paddling from doing multisport races. This was now my passion and it was all at my doorstep.

This year I competed in the Australian National Kayak Marathon Championships in Canberra and came back with third place in my age group. I have also just become the president of the newly formed Launceston Paddling Club which is based in the Trevallyn reserve. ”