Devizes To Westminster 2008

The story of doing the Devizes to Westminster race does not start on Good Friday but seven months earlier as fifteen pupils of varying degrees of sporting prowess and eagerness start training at the tail end of a warm summer the previous year.

Team Manager, Rupert Rosedale, is the consummate encourager. His gentle manner, extraordinary levels of patience and single-minded toughness enable him to lead, instruct and manage a diverse team of sixteen paddlers.

The Race
The Results
  

The Race

125 miles in four days, 76 portages and camping for three nights: these are just some of the reasons that the DW is called the canoeists’ Everest. Add to this an early Easter with abject, freezing weather conditions and you have a cocktail that was too onerous for many to swallow.

Eleven crews retired from the Junior section of the race this year; but all eight Marlborough teams completed the course - a powerful testament not only to the very high quality of the physical training and preparation we had received but also to the young men’s mental capacity to overcome burdens of pain, illness and dark moments of soul-searching.

If the DW Canoe Race were an examination, potential scoffers would be delighted to learn that the gold standards of extreme stamina, mental fortitude and intense physical pain in the name of sport have stood the test of time. I did the DW twice as a Junior and decided last year to have one last bash at it before it was too late.

There are no short cuts, you must still paddle the whole distance, no outboard motors are allowed and the clock does not stop ticking if you are tired and fancy a rest: QCA would be delighted!

The Results