The Devises to Westminster International Canoe Race - 1st month of training

The Devises to Westminster is a 125mile canoe race on the Kennet and Avon canal and River Thames finishing in front of Big Ben. The race organisers describe it as “an extreme test of endurance, mental and physical stamina, self-awareness, planning and control”. In April, Rich Masey and I will be competing in the K2 category, in what we both think will be the toughest challenge we have ever faced. 

Team with our pimping, yet to be named boat.  Any suggestions?

We have both always wanted to do the race after hearing about our canoe club founders Pete and Kevin doing the race years ago. The route passes through my home town and every year I say to myself “next year I will do it”. This is the year.

Careering uncontrollably into a portage.

Having never paddled K2 together, Rich and I have given ourselves four months to prepare. We must learn the technique, get fit, practice portaging, sort our support team and get mentally phyched. We attended a few training seminars at the start and now have a vague idea of what to do. 

Portage practice.  We will portage a half marathon distance throughout the race.

Our weekly training involves a 1h circuits session on Tuesday, 1.5h ergo or river session on Wednesday and Friday eve and a long (20-30mile) paddle on canal or river on Sundays. So far training is going well, however fitting it in with work and having enough rest and recovery time is a tough. 

Rich nailing the circuits.

One of the main aspects of the race is the support team. Two cars leapfrog each other down the race course, meeting us every hour to feed, water, re-clothe and motivate us. Without them the race would be insanely more difficult, so fingers crossed our tactics with them work. 

There are so many unknowns about the race as it’s our first ultra-endurance event. Neither of us have even stayed up for 24h let alone kayaked for that long, so for us it is a huge mental game. Training is going well so far, but we are still a long way away from the race. If we can keep it up, sort the support teams and build our mental toughness, we might just finish. 

 Bring it on!