Devizes To Westminster A Paddler's Perspective

The Rt. Hon. Paddy Ashdown M.P. (as was)

DW's most famous old boy!

A little known fact, but ex-leader of the Liberal Democrats Paddy Ashdown made his first triumphant arrival at Westminster years before he was elected as MP for Yeovil in 1979. Paddy doesn't have a reputation as the fittest man in parliament for nothing; it was whilst he was a serving member of the Royal Marines between 1959 and 1972 that he took part in, and completed the Devizes to Westminster canoe race, and is easily the most well known personality to have done so. To this day the Royal Marines are regular winners of the senior team event, possibly somewhat unsurprisingly!

Paddy's advice for anyone planning to attempt the race is "Train, train and train again. When you think that you've trained enough, train some more!". Quoted in The Times newspaper for an article about Devizes to Westminster in 1997, he remarked that he could only recall one figure in history who had suffered a more painful Easter! More of which elsewhere on the site...

Other well known Devizes to Westminster survivors include explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, who completed the race in 1998 and 1999, and mountaineer Rebecca Stephens who completed the race in 1998.

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