|
125 Mile Devinzes to Westminster SUP Paddle Race: Day 3 |
|
|
|
|
By: John Hibbard
|
|
Thursday, 16 April 2009 |
|
John Hibbard and Anthony Cooper took on the 125 mile Devinzes to Westminster Paddle Race on stand up boards. Here's the report on Day 3. Check back tomorrow for Day 4.
Day 3
My body was aching a fair bit, but by our start time I was feeling better. We set off about 5 minutes apart and made great time on the first 15 or so miles. My low point today came at around 18 miles, but only lasted until about 25 miles. After that I seemed to really perk up and lifted my paddle rate on the way to Marlow. We were now on the Thames and the boat traffic was increasing. Most boats passed wide and slow but at least one Chav Gin palace did it’s best to kick up a wake. I was swamped by one such boat’s wake just outside Marlow and had to pay full attention to stay upright. Thankfully the bailers on my board made short work of the flood.
By mile 30 I was feeling really good and put the hammer down to try and up my time. Originally I wanted to finish the whole race in 30 hours, but it was now looking like I might finish in about 28 hrs.
By the finish line at Teddington I was out of breath having pinned it for the last 5 or so miles. After 36 miles of paddling I crossed the line in about 7hrs 40 mins. Coops was about 30 mins behind be after having a similar day to me.
We were so happy to make it this far. All that lay ahead of us now was the Tidal Thames. Just as we were leaving the Day 4 finish site we met a Frenchman who basically told us we wouldn’t make. He told us he was a surfer and that there was no chance we’d be able to stand up all the way to Westminster. Apparently the water is way too rough and we there was no way we would do it. We were pretty livid and could not understand how this guy had the cheek to tell us that we wouldn’t make it. We knew we were going to make it and had no plans to sit down or worse still give up. We hadn’t paddled 107 miles to not finish the last 17 miles. We laughed at him and walked away as he continued to tell us it was an impossible task!
After we got over the put down from our French friend we tucked into a big feed and went to bed early. John Hibbard - Britain's Most Extreme Champion Sponsored by Tushingham Sails, Starboard, Fat Face, ActionVan, Go Fast Sports www.k007.co.uk Click here for Day One
 |
