That DW feeling

bike, cadbury's mini rolls, tea.

Yesterday and today has seen the running of the Senior Doubles DW race and I have not been able to get it out of my mind. I knew a couple of the MPCC crews who were taking part as well as following Blair's and Antony's progress on their blogs since I got into this event a couple of years' ago. The Kingston Straight is a very familiar part of the course and just a stone's throw from the Royal CC and the final portage at Teddington. It's also traditionally the point where I have been reduced to tears having got there, so I decided that I would get up early this morning and go along and support. I really wanted to be in the race in some form or other, even as a spectator; I just couldn't let it drift past my house and not get out there and see it running.

The pound from Molesey to Teddington is one of the longest on the Thames section of the race and if I had a pound for every time I was asked "How far to Teddington?" while I was on the bridge I would be a rich man. I managed to get into the tired spirit of the event by having far too many beers the night before, coupled with the clocks going forward so therefore I was one knackered and cold spectator after taking the langster for a spin over to Kingston Bridge.

And what does every DW crew want, 20 odd hours into their paddle at 6am? Yep, a cow bell gee up!

Annoying the neighbours

It had been a bitterly cold night, apparently dropping to as low as -5. Massive respect to all the finishers. It's a hard enough event at the best of times but those kinds of temperatures are energy sapping and really makes it difficult for the paddlers and their crews. I think the drop out rate was accordingly pretty high this year.

I got there at around 6am and stayed until 8 and saw most of the crews past the bridge. It was hard watching some of the guys and girls going through, obviously pretty spent and still with some way to go. That said, there was still a really good flow to help the paddlers on their way down to Westminster.

Boat 448 approaching Kingston Bridge 6am

I spent most of my time saying the following phrases:

"Amazing effort." Absolutely.

"You're doing great." They were.

"Looking good." Hmmm. Not so much.  For quite a few crews that was a lie but they were still in the race and paddling in some fashion or other and that's all that counts.






The sun coming up

I managed to catch Dan and Mark who by this stage were the only MPCC crew still going. They finished in a tad over 25 hours and I think Dan must be closing in on the 1000 mile club by now. Unfortunately the other MPCC crew made up of Matt and his 19 year old son, Josh had to retire at Old Windsor after 17 hours or so. A great effort and I think they'll be back next year with a vengeance. I almost missed him but saw Blair and Ryan through and they were looking good and  finished in a tad over 23 hours. Great effort boys. Sad to see that Antony didn't make it down this year. Hopefully he'll have better luck next time round.  He definitely deserves it.

I

A DW flotilla

I cycled home knowing that I want to do it again next year. The night before I had been sharing a few sherbets with Adam, Phil, Alex and Dave. The DW came up and they all instantly volunteered to be support crew next year. Top bananas the lot of them. Adam's also lending me his paddles. :-)  But most importantly, Jamie wants to give it a good go again and Sue, on discovering my various tweeted  musings about it has given me her blessing. Project #sub23 is under way.

In other news....

I still cannot run.  Tried and failed again, therefore it's off to the physio this week. Enough's enough. A few turbo sessions with a couple of  time trials booked in soon, a Kingston Phoenix 10 and the SCCU 25. All good.