The Race

As a resident of Newbury, a small market town in Berkshire, England for much of my life I have been only vaguely aware of the presence each year of a large number of hardy canoeists slipping quietly through the town along the Kennet and Avon Canal, on route to completing the longest nonstop canoe race in the world. Some 35 miles into the race and sometimes in the middle of the night exhausted by the wind, cold and wet they struggle onward towards their ultimate goal a further 90 miles away in Westminster, London.

The race is over a distance of 125 miles starting in Devizes, Wiltshire and finishing at Westminster Bridge in London. The course involves navigating around 76 locks where the paddlers have to get out of the canoes and carry them to the far side of the lock which is known as ‘portaging’. The Devizes to Westminster Race is often referred to as ‘The DW’.

This unique race was first run in 1948 and takes place over the Easter Weekend every year, which for many onlookers may seem like quite the wrong time of year for a race of this nature. All the training in the build up to the race has to take place over the winter months and the race itself is often effected by cold wintery conditions, which have on occasion led to less than half the crews finishing. It would be so much more logical for crews to be able to train over the warm summer months with long evenings to prepare, but these particular difficulties are just part of what makes this such a special and rather English race. It has been said that;

“To complete the DW, you need the speed of a racehorse, the stamina of a cart horse, and the brains of a rocking horse.” - Sunday Times (2005)

There are a number of classifications for types of canoe and crews allowed to enter the Devizes to Westminster which are as follows;

K1 - Single Person Kayak
K2 - Two Person Kayak
C1 - Single Person Canoe
C2 - Two Person Canoe

The race is run over the Easter weekend in 2 main formats.
Firstly there are a number of versions of a 4 day event where paddlers do around 30 miles on each of the 4 days over the Easter weekend, stopping overnight at the end of each day. These events and can be done by a mixture of 1 and 2 man crews including crews under the age of 18. In all cases the single paddler or 2 man crew complete the entire race - there is no rotation of crews allowed.

Secondly there is a nonstop race where crews paddle during Saturday and Sunday to complete the 125 miles of the race without stopping. This version of the race is called the ‘Senior Doubles’, or the ‘Senior’ for short, and is only paddled by 2 person adult crews for safety reasons. This nonstop event involves racing throughout the night and it is considered too dangerous for single crews or juniors to be paddling the Thames in darkness, often exhausted to the point of delirium and out of site of safety marshals and support crews.