Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race 2006
The Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race is a 125 mile non-stop physical and mental endurance push covering a total of 72 locks from Devizes up to Reading along the Kennet and Avon Canal, and Reading to London on the Thames. I had already competed in the race twice before with a friend, James Purchase, in the Junior K2 category for Pangbourne Canoe Club where the race is done over four days. We had come 3rd in 2003 and 1st in 2004 and now felt that it was time see how we would manage going straight through in the Senior K2. The Waterside Series and Thameside Series are two sets of races which provide an opportunity to get properly race fit, sort out any issues with food for races, boats etc., and check out the competition. So with the dates were set, the six months of training began…
| Waterside A | 19/02/06 | Newbury – Woolhampton | 13.5 miles |
| Thameside 1 | 26/02/06 | Aldermaston – Reading | 14 miles |
| Waterside B | 05/03/06 | Newbury – Aldermaston – Newbury | 17.5 miles |
| Thameside 2 | 12/03/06 | Reading – Marlow | 18 miles |
| Waterside C | 19/03/06 | Pewsey – Newbury | 23 miles |
| Waterside D | 02/04/06 | Devizes – Newbury | 34 miles |
| Devizes to Westminster | 15/04/06 | Devizes – Westminster | 125 miles |
Training together was somewhat awkward with James studying for a degree at Southampton University, our coaches and boat back in Reading and myself in Bristol. While I was able to join in the training sessions during the week down on the docks, most weekends were spent getting familiar with sections of the Thames and Canal in a boat that ended up taking a considerable amount of time to get used to. We had a successful Waterside Series winning B, C and the series, and used the Thamesides to really sort out a few problems with the seat positions and foot pump.
On the 14th April we (James, myself, our support crew and coaches) headed down to Devizes to a friend’s and spent the rest of the afternoon mixing PSP22 (a mix of powdered complex carbohydrates) into bottles of water while talking over last minute issues. We headed to bed early having stuffed ourselves with a ridiculous amount of rice. Our support crew had managed to work out, based on water and weather conditions, and our times for the Watersides, exactly where we should be at what time down the course and told us we were starting around 1:15pm. We headed down on Saturday morning after getting up late, had a third plastic wrist band strapped to our arms, warmed up, got kitted up and headed off. The first section down to Wooton Rivers was through a minefield of weed and passed a rather unsettled swan. While resistance training had been useful in training, There was nothing more demoralising and frustrating than seeing a huge clump of vegetation pinned to the nose of the boat and being unable to do anything about it as it sends the friction on the boat through the roof. We had one particularly large clump removed by an outstretched arm at a narrow section, only to turn the corner and pick up an even bigger piece. We next met the series of locks at Crofton which are positioned so that the distances between them are just too short for it to be worth paddling, which with all the getting in and out would waste too much time. This meant running an approximately one mile long flight of locks with a kitted boat slowly working on the bruising of our shoulders.
By the time we had reached Newbury I had passed the stage where I had energy to argue with what the support crew were telling me and it struck me that if was going to get down to London then I would need to shut up, save the energy and just do what I was told. Unknown to us at the time we were also actually sitting in 16th place. We had never paddled anything much over forty miles in one go and it started to sink in how far we had to go. We started thinking of targets to work towards: nothing more than two to three locks ahead.
It started too get dark and we were changed into dry and warmer gear for the night section at Woolhampton with our light sticks snapped down at Aldermaston. The race was still going well though, and so we decided to stop for a quick swim at Fobney, an idea our support crew didn’t think was so good and meant we were changed again at Dreadnought Reach. From then on it became much quieter. The stretches between locks became longer and so the rice and soup that was being shovelled down us became less frequent. We went through a cycle of lows and highs, sometimes together where we would be chatting quite happily or in silence with the occasional “My wrist is killing me!”, sometimes with one of us trying to cheer the other up and then ten minutes later it would swing the other way round. There was talk of a ‘Danish crew’ and an ‘Irish crew’ going round at the locks, but not really knowing what was going on with other crews we decided to try not to worry about that and concentrate on our own race. Anyway, I was more preoccupied with the angels that were guiding us along the way, only to find when reaching them that they were street lamps. Dawn seemed to come so quickly and with this we could see where we were going again (and how much we still had to do). Much of the morning was a blur, my body carrying on in autopilot.
Due to our swim and several changes we ended up catching the end of the tide, and though it was still moving, the bends and bridges never seemed to end. Finally, we turned the last corner with the Eye towering above us. We passed the Houses of Parliament, under Westminster Bridge and coasted into a sand back where a couple of blokes in black dry suits hauled us out of the boat and off the water. Our time was 19:21:21 positioning us 4th out of 114 starters. The rest is all a bit of a blur, but seemed to involve the pub and then sleeping. Overall it was a great experience which I would definitely recommend. It’s quite a commitment with regards to the training required particularly, but its one sense of achievement you’ll be pushed to match.
We have been raising money for CLIC Sargent, a charity for children with cancer and leukaemia and would be very grateful if you could help. I’ve set up a website which is still running (http://www.justgiving.com/DW2006CLIC) that is simple, fast and totally secure.
Lastly, I must say thankyou to Jim Lemin, Brian Greenham, Double Dutch UK (for lending us the Tango), our support crew (particularly our parents), everyone else who supported us along the way and of course, Steve and the boys for pushing me on the water every Tuesday and Thursday evening down on the docks.
Iain Hissett
http://www.clic.org.uk/
http://www.clicsargent.org.uk/
http://www.watersides.fsnet.co.uk/
http://www.dwrace.org.uk/