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Devizes To Westminster A Paddler's Perspective |
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About Devizes to Westminster
A brief account, with links to fuller histories.
- Devizes To Westminster? What's that about?
- And what is this site about?
- History of DW (External link - Rafiki/Taurus Venture Scout Unit)
Devizes To Westminster? What's that then?
Devizes to Westminster, sometimes referred to as "The Canoeist's Everest",
is a 125 mile canoe race which has run every Easter since 1948. Starting
at Devizes wharf, the route follows the Kennet and Avon canal for 54 miles
to Reading, where it joins the Thames. Another 54 miles later it
reaches Teddington Lock, ending 17 miles later at Westminster Bridge, after
a grand total of 125 miles (201 kilometres).
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| Devizes. 125 miles to go! | Through the night... | The eventual moment of triumph. |
There are three classes:
1) The Junior Doubles and Junior/Veteran: Two in a boat, there are four stages with overnight stops:
| Stage | Route | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Devizes to Newbury | 34 miles |
| 2 | Newbury to Marlow | 36 miles |
| 3 | Marlow to Teddington | 38 miles |
| 4 | Teddington to Westminster | 17 miles |
2) Senior Singles: One person kayaks or canoes, over the same four stages.
3) Senior Doubles: Timed continuously from the moment they start, until either they reach Westminster, or they admit defeat (which accounts for one third of the entries, rising to half in 1998).
At Easter 1995, The Sunday Times wrote:
"To complete the DW, you need the speed of a racehorse, the stamina
of a carthorse, and the brains of a rocking horse."
The race's most famous survivor is the leader of the Liberal Democrats,
Paddy Ashdown, who completed the race as a Royal Marine. He remarked that
this was surely the second most miserable Easter in history! Other famous personalities
to own a coveted DW medal are explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Rebecca Stephens, the first
woman to climb Everest solo.
Because of what they go through in completing it, most
canoeists regard the experience of the Devizes to Westminster race as being
very special.
There's only one real way to understand what "The DW" is about - to be there.
Did I mention it really hurts?
Further reading and fuller (officially written) history: History of DW (External link - Rafiki/Taurus Venture Scout Unit)
This site was originally set up in 1998 to report on the DW effort of Peter Dove and David Anderson, who were entering the senior doubles class for the first time. Since then, it has expanded to a general site dedicated to the Devizes to Westminster experience.
A bit about Peter and David (the webmaster):
Peter Dove: 2nd year engineering undergraduate at Bradford University. Peter has done the junior section of Devizes to Westminster twice, in 1995 with Ben Davies and 1996 with Robert Paton, coming 16th and 10th respectively with times of 21 hours, 01 minutes and 20 hours, 17 minutes.
David Anderson: 2nd year mathematics undergraduate at Oxford University. David completed Devizes to Westminster as a junior in 1996 (19th, 21 hours 41 minutes) and the 50th race in 1997 (11th, 20 hours 18 minutes), both times with Adam Brown.
Both were members of Kimbolton School Canoe Club.
This picture is of the Kimbolton crews celebrating at Westminster on Easter Monday in 1996. Standing, L to R: James Dormer, Mr. Ward, Simon Philipps, Robert Paton, David Anderson, Laura Wood, Rebecca Notley, Georgina Lilley, Peter Dove. Sitting: Simon Newby, Zoë Bee, Miranda Badcock, Rachel Newby, Adam Brown.
DW 1998 is over now: the race completed by Peter and David in 22 hours, 51 minutes, 58 seconds.
See the results or diary.
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| Laura and Suzy at Molesey | David and Adam in action | 1997 celebrations |
The X-Class team
Devizes To Westminster is an international canoe race, attracting many
of the world's best paddlers and canoe
clubs, especially in the senior singles. There are many different prizes up for grabs. One of
these is the "Cross-Class Team Trophy", which is awarded to the fastest
team (i.e. lowest cumulative time) containing one junior doubles boat,
one senior singles, and one senior doubles. Peter and David trained
to race as part of Kimbolton School's first ever cross-class team in 1998.
The senior singles paddler was Shaun Rhodes, a successful junior paddler
from 1994 (21 hours, 43 minutes) and 1995 (19 hours, 26 minutes, then the
club record). The junior doubles crew was Adam Cottingham and Anthony Beale.
The class was successfully won, and a new record set (see the results).
Further reading and fuller (officially written) history: History of DW (External link - Rafiki/Taurus Venture Scout Unit)
