The Green Boat goes forth again! I was slightly concerned about this race as I've never paddled for more than 3½ hours in my life. The thought of 34 miles was bad enough without the fact that the first 13 are without a portage and there's a great big tunnel half way through.
So the day started with snow. From that point, everything got better. George took the helm and we got a couple good rides on stern washes. The weather improved very quickly, and we got in to a good rhythm. Took a tactical toilet break after about 11 miles and was then actually looking forward to portages. Our three support teams were great. Plenty of encouragement, grapes, bananas, and nibbles.
When we got to Great Bedwyn it felt like we were nearly home as some of the scenery became familiar. But there was a way to go!
Stopped for a few minutes to pull a couple of lads out of the drink, and I took a brief unscheduled swim myself (George was just standing at the side watching me topple in).
Luckily there were no more "events", and we put in a respectable 6h38m.
We got changed (avoiding the very cold showers), grabbed our soup and "lunch" at the finish and toddled off home.
The apprehension of Day 1 of the Devizes to Westminster will be greatly reduced now.
Thanks to Richard, Hannah, Lynsey, Maria and Alexander for their enthusiastic and very professional support!
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