In addition to Isobel and Naomi’s achievements in the K2 and Phil’s heroic effort in doing over 1000 200m races in a row, credit is also due to a couple of other Wey paddlers.
James Dunlop was aiming to do the Senior Doubles but his training partner had to pull out injured (a dislocated shoulder which apparently plays havoc with the technique) a few weeks before the race. Undeterred, James climbed into one of the club’s K1s and finished the K1 Senior event in under 24 hours in 35th place, with no capsizes, which given the fact that he’s only got a few months kayaking experience and was repeatedly attacked by a swan on the pound is some achievement.
Shane Thomas was also aiming to compete in the Senior Doubles but his paddling partner was sent off to Saudi Arabia or somewhere not renowned for its kayaking so he press-ganged a mate with no paddling experience whatsoever into joining him. Waterside B was one of their first outings and the DW was a mere 6 weeks later. Shane and Simon set off from Devizes just after 7am on Easter Saturday, had a bit of a “rest” at Old Windsor when they realised that they weren’t going to make the morning tide at Teddington, finally finishing at Westminster at 22.48 Sunday evening, having paddled the tideway in the dark. That’s over 39 hours. Hats off to them for sticking with it and not giving up.
By all accounts they’ll all be back next year for more when hopefully we'll be able to enter an armada of senior doubles....
