Today was the longest day of the race: 38 miles from Marlow to Teddington. Everybody arrived at the start extra early, and after some work to reinforce the broken front of the boat, we were off the start around 8.15 am. With strong flow helping us along, Windsor Castle came into view well ahead of schedule. Encouraged by this, we pressed on towards Staines, taking extra care not to damage the boat further on portages. The middle section of the day seems to have gone exceptionally quickly, and by the time we arrived at Sunbury Lock, I was still convinced we hadn't reached Chertsey! The last 7-8 miles, however, proved to be rather hard and certainly very painful (Calum and I strongly regretted not padding out our seats). The final mile before Teddington dragged on forever! Once we had made over the lock though, everything suddenly seemed very easy and we were at the finish in no time. End result: 5 hrs 44, giving us a 14 minute lead over the next boat.
For the third day running, our support team - Richard, Hannah, Clive, Lynsey, Maria and Alexander - have excelled in providing us with food, moral support and valuable information. Thank you very much to all!
Coming up tomorrow is the final 17-mile leg which will take us through Richmond, Chiswick, Hammersmith, Putney, Chelsea and Vauxhall to Westminster Bridge!
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