Endeavour Challenge
Preparation for the Endeavour Challenge (or strung out by Canons) – from the female perspective
Football and cricket are not an obvious option but canoeing is something we girls can have a go at with relative success despite my other half’s observation ” With respect you’re only a BIRD and you’re never going to keep up with me”. Hmmm. That’s as maybe. My biggest issue is managing to keep a cool head when the Harbour Master seems to be an extra in the cast of “Speed”, the ferry owners take great delight in “buzzing” my little yellow boat, the lovely Bristol weather is blowing a gale and the docks resemble the set from the movie “Storm”. And, just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, some bright soul decided the tourists needed some extra entertainment in the form of an enormous pleasure cruiser called “Bageera”. Going head to head with that in the feeder was like playing chicken with 6.45 to Plymouth.
I have fallen in only four times in four years and despite this I have developed a phobia of the docks in the last six months. This is largely due to the decision that this year instead of the trusty Mystere (ultra stable ultra slow) we should try a faster boat for the Endeavour Challenge. It occurred to me that I stood no chance of staying afloat if the 13 stone bloke behind me decided to throw himself out of the boat. And with the new, wobblier Mirage this was a distinct possibility.
Things went from bad to worse, just looking at the new boat made me feel ill. On the water my body would go one way and the boat would go the other. I developed a set of strategies to deal with the conditions. I’d cut through the wash at and angle and then get away quickly before it bounced back from the sides of the dock and hit me from behind. The difficulty was when several boats went past at the same time and the wash caught you from all sides. Or, round by Canons, where its so chopped up anyway it could catch you in any direction. Predicting the direction of the flow and the likely pitch of the boat became an obsession. My other half and I decided to part company – at least in the water – it was too much like learning to drive. On several more occasions I found myself clinging to a jetty wishing I was elsewhere.
The only other female in our team dropped out in September leaving me to fly the flag or was it run and hide? Fortunately my new paddling partner was the patient type and managed to “talk me down” on the many occasions when I was strung out next to Canons Marsh. In the last few weeks, as usual, everything came together. Everyone seemed to step up a gear. We lost another team member but we just regrouped, re-organised and came up with a new pairing strategy. On the day the team was brilliant despite an outbreak of flu.
As for me, I’m still scared of the water. My paddling days are probably at an end and I might be better off playing rugby at the weekends. Or may be I’ll just give it another go next year……..
Karen McKeown
Endeavour Canoe Challenge
It was that time of year again and the LloydsTSB Canoe teams were up at the crack of dawn on Saturday 5th October to start the 50 mile Endeavour Canoe Challenge. Two teams from the Bank’s Head office took part both of whom train on the docks under the supervision of Steve Bennett and the marathon paddlers.
The two teams managed to raise just over £10,000 between them with the Business Banking team comprising of 8 ladies completing the course in an excellent time of just over 9 hours and 50 minutes (over an hour faster than last years time). The GPS team which comprise of the following Canoe Club members; Paul Keyte, Karen McKeown, Stephen Madams and Gareth Bowen – completed the course in a record time of 9 hours and 7 minutes. The other 4 members of the team had not been in a canoe before May this year, but are already looking to take part in next years event, and some are even talking about the Exe Descent!
Both teams would like to express their sincere thanks to Steve and his fellow paddlers for the support they have given through the summer in preparing for the event.
Paul Keyte
