The Devizes to Westiminster Canoe Race (DW) is a 125 mile race in the UK, where teams race non-stop over 77 portages, down a canal, a river, and onto the tidal section of the Thames. The race is run as a time trial, with each team picking their start time based on when they will hit the tide 17 miles before the finish line. Below is the story of our adventure.
Mike and I decided to do the DW about 1 year before we made it to the starting line. We met four British paddlers, James Prowse, Shirine Voller, Mike Thornton, and Mark Peterson, at a training camp in Florida in March 2015. After learning about the DW, we decided it was something we would have to do. Looking ahead to 2016, Easter weekend was in March, which fit perfectly into our already full Marathon Canoe Racing Schedule. We would have two months to recover between the DW and our next long race. Once we decided to race, it was all about figuring out how to get there and make the most of our trip.
We spent some time talking to our American friends who had done the race before, gleaning any information we could. Neil Weisner-Hanks told us to really practice the portages,and Mike Vincent told us to take a good light and do a time trial upon arrival in the UK in order to figure out our start time. Mike and I both paddle quite a bit year round, but Michigan winters suit nordic skiing much better than paddling, so we did our usual ski program all winter, hoping that the conditioning would serve us well. We were a little concerned about the boat stability, since we had never even paddled a Wenonah Mach 1 before. My dad has an ICF C-2 we could practice in, but it wasn't stable enough to use all winter, and definitely didn't sound stable enough to race for 20 hours. Finally, we were able to track down a Wenonah in Michigan to try for a day, and that settled our fears about boat stability, now we had to find one to race!
Neil helped us get into contact with Richard Bennett, from the Canoe and Kayak Store, and he graciously offered to loan us a boat for the race. The biggest questions about our race had been resolved, so we bought our tickets and contacted, James, Shirine, and Mike to let them know we were going to make the race. They had already decided to be the core of our support crew, and with the addition of Sue Prowse, Laura Thornton, and Alan Farrance, we were in the best care.
We arrived in London the Friday before the race and immediately drove to pick up our canoe from Richard. Upon arriving at the Canoe and Kayak Store, we found a brand new boat waiting for us! This was far more than we were expecting, and we were nervous to put the first scratch on it, something that would be inevitable during a 125 mile canoe race. Another concern was getting the boat set up for Mike (6'3" and solidly built) and I (5'5" and girlish) with a 50 lb.+ weight difference. Mike always paddles the bow, and I always paddle the stern, so switching ends to make the boat work for our weight difference wasn't really an option. We decided to move the stern seat back about 10 inches, which allowed us to finally get stern heavy, a must for such a long race.
The week before the race involved getting the boat set up, scouting the course, and learning how to portage. Nick Prowse and Alan took time out of their days to shuttle us around the Thames River and the Kennet-Avon Canal in order to help us prepare. After scouting about 35 miles of the course, we realized we weren't going to remember most of the portages, and would just have think on our feet. James, Mike, and Shirine would paddle with us and gave us pointers on strategy and portaging. We got fast enough to almost stay with them on the take outs and put-ins, but we were worried that having to get in and out so many times would really wear on us. Mike and I decided we would run all of the portages that were close together, instead of getting in and out multiple times. In a meeting with our support crew, we made the decision to set our projected pace just ahead of the canoe record. It looked like the wind and rain was going to be against us so we didn't know if we would be able to hold the pace, but it gave us the opportunity to do it.
When we finally got to race day, we were so excited to get started. Neither one of us had done a C-2 time trial race before, so we didn't know how we should feel before the start. We decided to prepare like any other long race, and warm up by running for 10 minutes. After we felt loosened up we got our tracker and took off.
Unlike most of the other teams in the race, we were looking forward to the longer stretches with no portages. The first 14 miles flew by, and even though it was windy and rainy, we knew that we were moving well. Both of us were surprised at the number of teams we caught before the first portage and by the number of canal boats that were travelling in the rain. In the first hour, our support crew told us that we were already 5 minutes ahead of our goal pace. We relaxed knowing that we would need that time on the portages.
Hitting the first portage, we were ready to get into the meat of the race. We started off trying to run hard, and then realized there was too much mud. We couldn't get any traction, and fought hard to stay on our feet. The second and third locks were close, so we ran them as one portage. It was awful. The run felt long, hard, and unsustainable. I didn't worry about how long we had to paddle, but I felt how daunting the portages could really be. Upon getting back in the boat, Mike and I agreed we would paddle between every lock, no matter how short the run to save energy. When we hit the Crofton flight, we came in with a kayak that decided to run all seven portages. They could run faster than us, but the towpath was so muddy that we were able to gain by paddling.
Once we hit Newbury we knew that the portages would be less often and we felt that we had past the most difficult part of the course. We had a few bad portages at dusk before figuring out what setting to run our light on, but most of this part of the race was uneventful. It seemed like in no time at all we were in Reading, and the rain had finally stopped! We decided to stop at Dreadnought and change into warm dry clothes, making us feel even better, and found out that we were still a few minutes ahead of our projected pace. Getting on the Thames felt more like paddling at home, and we had fun looking for the next portage ahead.
After another 10 portages, we started to feel the distance. Our paddling muscles hurt, and our hands were sore from carrying the boat. We shouldered the boat on the rest of the portages. About at this point we started catching a lot of teams. This was encouraging on the water, but it made the portaging really slow. We had to wait sometimes a few minutes to put in. On top of our fatigue we felt that the record was beginning to get out of reach. Our crew kept cheering us on, encouraging us to keep pushing. When we got to Teddington, we could feel the sun would be coming up soon. Our crew was there to tell us that we hit the portage 2 minutes ahead of schedule- about 7 minutes ahead of the record! We also learned that there were only 10 boats ahead of us, and they challenged us to cross the finish line first.
Even through all of the pain, we were able to rally and push hard by the first 3 teams. It started to look like a city, and we were looking for the London Eye, even though it was still early. Our support lined up on the side, cheering and telling us "only an hour to the finish!" and "you are still on pace to break the record!". The last hour is always the hardest mentally, and we rounded a corner into a tough headwind. The waves started to build the finish felt a million miles away. Fortunately, it was only the one straightaway that had such a tough wind and we had made it through. We had ground up all the way up to the 4th finishing team, and made a pass. They were a fast kayak and were hanging on to our wave. We really decided to push, and finally saw the London Eye. Our support team was standing upstream of the bridge, shouting that we were going to smash the record. It was then a sprint for the bridge and past the finish line. We crossed the line 4th, in a time of 18 hours, 23 minutes, and 48 seconds, good for the record, first C2, and 3rd place overall. Walking up the steps was euphoric. Sue directed Mike and I to stand in front of Big Ben for our finish picture. We came to realize later that she posted a video on Facebook waiting at the finish line, explaining that if we crossed the line before Big Ben showed ten past seven we would have the record. Our finish line picture shows Big Ben at seven o'clock.
We were able to enjoy our last days in the UK by celebrating our great finish and Mike's birthday. It was a whirlwind week we will never forget, and we can't wait to head back and try it all again. The race was fantastic, and the people were even better.
