Cancellation of DW 2000

The river was flowing at a higher level than both 1993 and 1998. Before the event, a number of people contacted the Environment Agency and we understand that some of them were told by the EA thay the river would be closed and not to paddle. The EA also advised DW before the event that they considered that the event should be cancelled. Although the EA are not canoeing specialists, the fact is that the EA "advice" placed an additional adverse factor on the organisation. DW will consider a further approach to the EA to establish a principle that they make announcements about river conditions and leave canoeing decsions to canoeing experts.

The DW decided to assess the situation on each day of the race but were mindful of the concerns of competitors, particularly the schools in the Junior K2 event.

Given the events of the preceeding week and the recommendations made by others it was decided that competitors in the Senior K2 should only proceed onto the Thames if they were sufficiently experienced and other crews would wait at Dreadnought reach until cleared onto the Thames by a race official. Only two crews came into this category, all the others declared themselves competent for the conditions and were able to go straight through.

In addition to the concerns expressed by Junior crew representives before the event, on Friday the Junior teams had a meeting with DW officials and agreed to paddle to Dreadnought on Saturday and review the situation again. Much later on Friday but before the incident at Old Windsor the schools had reviewed this decision, having inspected County Lock, Sonning and Shiplake and others and decided not to paddle on Saturday. The DW organisation was not involved in this decision.

In the early hours of Saturday morning a Senior K2 misjudged the approach and, finding themselves in the weir stream, decided to stop at a post to which safety ropes were attached 50 feet before Old Windsor weir. Although preventing them from going over the weir the prevailing current and the orientation of the line made it impossible for them to move along it to safety. The alarm was raised by other paddlers and support crews and attempts were made to direct other boats arriving away from the hazard. The initial calls to the information centre at 0245 placed the incident at three locations, Old Windsor, Bell Weir and Romney. Emergency services including Thames Valley Police and The Metropolitan Police were asked to help establish the exact location and render assistance. The police used a helicopter at this stage to check the river quickly. Mobile DW officials were sent to Bell Weir and the checkpoint crew at Old Windsor were sent to check there. They quickly spotted the incident and the fire brigade was called to the scene and the lockkeeper alerted. Our safety crews were sent to the scene to offer specialist advice and assistance if required as they were not yet needed at Westminster, the tideway being closed to competitors before HW Teddington.

The fire service launched a boat to recover the paddlers who by now had climbed onto the safety barrier, a marginally less hazardous position. We were informed that our rescue craft would not be needed so one was sent back to London, the other, en route to London on the M4 was told to continue to the scene. The current made it difficult for the fire boat to effect a rescue and they themselves got into some difficulty. This was reported to us by our race staff and our second boat was recalled to Old Windsor.

During these developments the decision was taken to stop all boats upstream of Old Windsor to stop them heading into an already complex rescue situation. It became clear that our own safety boats might still be needed to assist the fire brigade so boats were stopped at Teddington in case we were unable to get all our safety resources back onto the tideway before the 0548 start.

There were a number of DW officials on the scene within minutes: they were liasing directly with Fire Brigade control and also working with the lockkeeper to close sluices to reduce the flow but despite their best efforts the sluices could not all be fully closed. Eventually both paddlers were rescued along with others who were stranded on a small island just upstream of the weir. One Fireman was treated in hospital for hypothermia and we understand that he has recovered with no ill effects. There were no other casualties. Although both of our rescue craft were eventually asked to deploy by the fire service, neither were used in the rescue.

The true nature of the race had certainly been compromised with many crews kept waiting for 3 or 4 hours in cold and wet conditions but this in itself would not have been a reason to cancel the race - with or without time allowances most paddlers still wanted to complete the course.

The safety line at Old Windsor was removed during the rescue but a compulsory portage could have been introduced and safety cover left in place. Again, in itself this would not have been a reason for cancellation.

The decision to cancel the Senior Doubles and remaining stages races was triggered by the Old Windsor incident, but was made because of all of the factors, not one. Considerable resources from the emergency services were involved in a rescue in which both paddlers and firecrews had been at risk. That is the job that they do and we are all extremely grateful for their presence. This rescue was successful but protracted, it ended at 0520.

The decision to cancel was taken at 0620. Canoeing is a hazardous sport and those that take part in the DW senior K2 in particular are well aware of this. To carry on following this lengthy incident and the events of the previous week would have brought DW into disrepute both with the emergency services and the general public. Had their been another incident then the race would rightly have been "hung out to dry" by everybody.

Canoeists are to be congratulated for realising that taking off their numbers and continuing "independently" would have run the same risks - no one outside the race would have distinguished them from official competitors. It is true that the boats at Teddington could have proceeded safely on a calm tideway to Westminster with no difficulty but it was the belief that nobody would be finishing that convinced a number of paddlers to stop who would otherwise have continued regardless.

The few paddlers that decided to go on put the volunteers that run the race into a major dilemma. Our checkpoint crews stayed out for between three and six hours after the race was cancelled in order to report in paddlers who were continuing alone. Most of them saw nobody, some saw a number of boats who came through and some were on the receiving end of some fairly unpleasant comments. A number of boats got onto the tideway after the race was cancelled. The rescue teams at Old Windsor who had been active since 3AM were sent back to Putney to meet the paddlers and provide additional safety cover. We would have preferred not to have tired safety crews driving back to London with any pressure on them for a time of arrival but given the new obstructions close to County Hall and the restrictions on where we could get our it was important to have comprehensive safety cover there.

Some people have suggested a re-run on a Bank Holiday weekend in May! This is just not possible. The logistics of what they are suggesting are impossible, not to mention the costs!

The decision was a difficult one to make, this is the first time in it's 53 year history that the race has been abandoned. What is important is that there continues to be a DW event in future and that it is accessible to all who train well. There are always things to learn from any event and it is the Race Organisations intention to work with all those interested in the race to ensure that it continues to be a challenge whether that is just to finish or to break records.

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