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| Unlike many of the world’s great races, the Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race (or D-W as its devotees refer to it) does not follow an apparently logical course. It is not a complete descent of some mighty river, nor is it an epic journey from one great city to another. Devizes is a sleepy market town set in the English farming county of Wiltshire. Running through the town is the 200 year old Kennet and Avon Canal, a small and cheaply built navigation that once linked the sea port of Bristol to the town of Reading, and onwards via the River Thames to London. Although Wiltshire is noted for its sites of prehistoric interest, it is perhaps hard to believe that these bare uplands were once the most densely populated region of southern England. In contrast, Westminster, as the seat of British Government, contains the present day nation’s law-making and administrative nerve centre. Why then do these two vastly different places represent the focal points of the world’s toughest canoe race? The answer is, of course, peculiarly British. It starts with a group of men in “The Greyhound” pub in the village of Pewsey, just outside Devizes. It was 1920 and a national rail and bus strike was looming. Alternative means of transport were discussed in the bar, and the outcome, as with all good bar-room talk, was a wager: whether or not it was possible to get down the River Avon from Pewsey to the sea at Christchurch in under three days, a distance of some 70 miles. Four intrepid souls took up the challenge in a 20-foot sculling skiff and duly won the bet with 10 hours to spare, and as far as it is known, this feat was not repeated for another 27 years. Then in 1946 a conversation took place in the same pub with one of the original participants. Three RAF men and a local farmer took up the challenge, reaching the sea in a time of 51 hours. A local resident then offered a prize to anyone who could better this time, and the scoutmaster of the 1st Devizes Scouts, Ollie Brown, wanted his scouts to take up the challenge in their home-built canoes, but as the prize was specified for sculling boats and local residents only, they were unable to do so. In some ways this was a fortunate thing, as it is hard to imagine an annual canoe race with hundreds of participants being allowed to race down one of England’s best trout fishing rivers! The journey down the River Avon has since been done many times, with the fastest time approaching 20 hours. |
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| What has this to do with the D-W? Well, it happened that one of the original 1947 Avon descent participants, Roy Cooke, was planning to try to reach London via the derelict Kennet and Avon Canal and the River Thames in less than 100 hours. When he was unable to see this through, the project was willingly taken up by the Devizes Scouts, with the encouragement of locals who put up a sum of money for Scout funds if they could succeed in “taking a boat from Devizes to Westminster in under 100 hours, all food and camping kit to be carried in the boats”. At Easter 1948, Peter Brown, Brian Walters, Laurie Jones and Brian Smith, all aged just 17, set on the first D-W run. Great interest was generated nationally, with progress reports and photographs appearing in the national press, and the local cinema in Devizes interrupting programmes to give reports of their progress. At the finish a large crowd turned out at Westminster Bridge to see them successfully complete the challenge in a time of 89 hours and 50 minutes. So it was that the first Devizes to Westminster run was instigated. At Whitsun that same year, two crews from Chippenham Sea Cadets set out to emulate the scouts’ feat and succeeded in reducing the time to 75 hours and 50 minutes. Later that summer, several crews also tried to make the run, but were defeated by thick weed on the canal, something the Kennet and Avon canal has always been notorious for. So it was established then that Easter was the best time to run the D-W. |
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| The following year, 1949, despite no formal race having been organised, nearly 20 boats set out from Devizes to attempt the run. Most failed, including Percy Blandford making the first attempt in a single. He got as far as Chertsey, no doubt paddling one of his ubiquitous designs that were so responsible for popularising canoeing in the 1950s. Two crews from Richmond Canoe Club brought the time down to 49 hours 32 minutes followed by a crew from the Bristol Scouts in 53 hours 10 minutes. The interest shown in the event prompted Frank Luzmore, a member of theRichmond crews, to form an organising committee to run an annual contest. |
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| 1950 saw the first official D-W race, with a winner’s trophy donated by Albert Weibel of Richmond Canoe Club. About 17 crews started, with 10 boats completing the course. Again, another crew from Richmond Canoe Club, with the first non-stop run on the course, reduced the best time to 34 hours 52 minutes. However, they were only just ahead of a crew from the Royal Marines. This was a portent of what was to come, for the Special Forces, Royal Marines, SAS, and the Paras were to dominate the race for the next 20 years. Richmond Canoe Club had one more win in 1952, but from then on the services were dominant, with the Royal Marines winning the race eleven times, Paras four times and the SAS three times. Their run of wins only came to an end in 1971 when the rules were changed to allow civilians to compete on a more equal footing. During this period a team trophy was introduced and this was also dominated by the military in these early years. 1951 saw an outstanding performance by the SAS crew of Dansie and Dry in bringing down the time to just over 24 hours. This may not seem fast by today’s standards, but when you consider the derelict state of the canal then, the primitive boats, the great amount of kit that had to be carried, combined with the requirement that you also had to be self-sufficient in food and drink, some of the performances of the 1950s and 1960s were truly remarkable. Even today you can get some idea of what it was like when you see a Special Forces crew running the race in one of their great folding Klepper Aerius boats. It is amazing to think that times of under 24 hours have been recorded on this type of boat! The trophy for this class, used to be fiercely contested by the Special Forces crews as folding doubles were, and still are, the boats actually used in covert military operations. However, because in recent times there has been a lack of entries in this class, the trophy is no longer awarded. |
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| It is interesting to note that the winner of the folding boat class in 1965 was none other than Paddy Ashdown, leader of the Liberal Democrats, paddling for the Royal Marines. It is not recorded whether he made a speech at every portage, though one suspects that his partner must have been a good listener. Other notable service men to have done the race are Chay Blyth and John Ridgeway, who in 1961 both completed the race with different partners, paddling for the Paras. Ridgeway came 15th in 27 hours 5 minutes, and Blyth was 22nd in 30 hours 34 minutes. Paddling large folding canoes and having to carry them over so many portages evidently put them off, as they took up rowing instead and chose a stretch of water that was totally portage-free, namely the Atlantic Ocean! |
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| One of the great questions surrounding this period of the race’s history is why did the services dominate the race for so long? Obviously, just after the war, canoeing as a competitive sport did not exist, and in fact the D-W was the impetus for the subsequent development of marathon racing in Great Britain, a process which took nearly 20 years before the sport was properly established. Richmond Canoe Club, so important to the initial development of the D-W, was formed in 1945, and was only one of a handful of canoe clubs in existence then. The Royal Marines, meanwhile, were professional canoeists. The special boat section of the Marines had been formed at Poole Harbour during the Second World War, and their exploits in canoes were made famous in the film “Cockleshell Heroes”. To this day the British Canoe Union annually awards the Hasler Trophy, named after the leader of the “Cockleshell Heroes”, Blondie Hasler, to the most successful canoe club in marathon racing. |
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| The Marines immediately seized on the D-W as a superb training exercise for the Special Boat Service Unit, and the combination of trained athletes, professional preparation and support of the race, as a military exercise was unbeatable. Indeed, as it has already been stated, their only opposition came from other military units operating in a similar manner. It was for this reason that the Civilian Trophy came into being; the trophy was a tacit acceptance of the fact that civilian crews were disadvantaged. As the sport of marathon racing progressed, the training of civilian crews started to match that of the military, and in some aspects, such as paddling technique, they were far superior and it became apparent that the race rules operated in the military’s favour. |
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| Using the Devizes Scouts’ original stricture “taking a boat from Devizes to Westminster in under 100 hours, all food and camping kit to be carried in the boats” as a basis for formulating a set of rules, the original D-W rules also stated that no outside assistance of any sort was permitted, including the giving of food and drink, and detailed a long list of camping equipment and clothing that was to be carried. From the very start there was conflict within the organising committee as to whether the D-W was a fast tour or an actual race, so much so that it was even proposed to ban racing K2 class boats in view of their insufficient load-carrying capacity. As the military quickly turned the race into a non-stop event, most of the camping equipment became irrelevant for all but the slowest of crews. The kit itself became farcical: officials were presented with a wick and a small bottle of meths as a stove and fuel, sheets as sleeping bags, tents that wouldn’t house a cat, and so on. This meant that rules had to be clearly defined as to what properly constituted a tent, stove, sleeping bag, track suit etc. The rules soon became a book! As for drinking water, most crews need to drink at least 4 gallons during the race, and it was beyond even the toughest Marine to carry this amount in the boat. So official water points had to be set up all down the course, which meant more rules about what was official water and what was not. Every year, one old lady at Crofton, used to put on a table outside her cottage her best china and jugs full of water for the competitors, but if an official caught you drinking from them you were disqualified from the race. This lead to a whole army officials policing the course making sure that paddlers were not being given any sustenance and making arbitrary kit checks to make sure you were still carrying every item listed in the rules. The result of all these rules was that nearly everyone cheated. Most of the portages were marshalled, so your support crew had to find a remote place on the river or canal to call you in to feed you or kit-change you. |
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| With its greater manpower and organisation, the military excelled at this new clandestine approach. A fleet of army Three-Tonners and Land-Rovers parked in obscure places down the course, together with their own radio network, meant that civilian support crews could never match the coverage the services were able to give their crews. At night you would find yourself on remote part of the river blinking at what appeared to be a bank covered in fairy lights, but which were in fact torches of support teams trying to spot their crew. The extent of this rule breaking can be gauged by the 1965 senior results when four crews were disqualified, six were penalised by 1 hour, and a further 25 crews who voluntarily retired were deemed to have broken the rules. The following year was no better, with one disqualification, two time penalties, and 49 crews who retired also being deemed to have broken the rules, including one crew who was alleged to have been transported further down the course by car! |
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| In 1971, common sense finally prevailed when the committee changed the rules to allow the feeding of crews by support teams, and the kit list was reduced to only those items deemed necessary for the safety of the crew. Hence, 1971 was a defining year in the race, and the civilian clubs finally decided that they could take on the military and possibly stand a chance of winning! It was fitting that it was Richmond Canoe Club, in many ways the pioneers of the race proper, who took up the challenge. They entered a strong team of 4 boats, all with paddlers who had all represented Great Britain at international level. One member, Peter Lawler, had even been to four Olympic Games and had previously set the Junior D-W record that had stood for nearly 10 years. It was an outstandingly competitive race against the brilliant Para crew of Paganelli and Evans, the crew who had brought down the fastest finishing time to under 20 hours and who had been winners of the race the previous three years. However, despite the pedigree of the military crews it was Peter Lawler with his partner Chris Baker who won, bringing an end to the services’ stranglehold on the race. With their other crews coming in 3rd, 5th and 7th, Richmond also broke the team record, and more importantly, gained the first ever team victory by a civilian club. |
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Since then, civilians have won the race more often than not, and started setting all the course records culminating in the present record of 15 hours 34 minutes, which was set by the outstanding Richmond / Reading partnership of Tim Cornish and Brian Greenham in 1979. These performances reflected Great Britain’s rise to pre-eminence in international marathon racing. Though the military still dominate the team event, the present team record is still held by Richmond Canoe Club, set in 1994. In recent years, however, with the establishment of a world championship in marathon racing, many of the best civilian paddlers are reluctant to jeopardise their chance of international selection by participation in D-W. So in the late 1990s we are seeing a resurgence of success by the services. |
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| JUNIOR RACE |
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| Although the Devizes Scouts were juniors when they completed the first D-W run, when the race proper was started up juniors were not allowed to compete due to quite sensible safety considerations. The demand for a junior race was met in 1953 when compulsory overnight stops were introduced. Originally there were only two overnight stops, but this soon developed into the present-day format of three overnight stops at Newbury, Marlow and Ham, with a mass start to Westminster on the final day. The first race saw only two crews entered, both of which were from the Chippenham Sea Cadets and finished in a time of 37 hours 18 minutes. The sea cadets had actually entered the race with two crews the previous year, and although both crews finished, they were both disqualified for rule infringements. It took a few years for the junior race to develop, but by 1961, with the entry of junior leader army regiments and police cadet units, numbers had grown steadily to the present-day figure of over 50 boats, reaching a peak in 1970 when 100 crews were entered. With the disbandment of army and police units in the early 1970s, junior numbers have sadly declined. The establishment of a Schools Trophy in 1975, however, has produced a steady influx of public schools into the race, and entries are now rising again. Notable among the schools has been Bryanston School and Reading / Leighton-Park School. Reading / Leighton-Park, under the leadership of their coach Bernard Perret, himself a one-time record holder of the senior race, have won the junior individual race more times than any other club. Bryanston School, under the leadership of John Moore, have the most team victories. Schools are now responsible for 90 percent of the junior entries (1998). |
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| It is good to note that the D-W seems to have done no harm to our top paddlers, as many of Britain’s top sprint racers including world sprint champions Grayson Bourne, Ivan Lawler, Jeremy West and Alan Williams, have started in the junior D-W. The junior men’s record is currently held by the Richmond / Royal pairing of Steve Jensen and Tony Richardson in the phenomenal time of 14 hours 13 minutes, faster than the senior record, but then they did have 3 nights sleep on the way down! Also, they are the only junior crew ever to have won the senior Waterside race series outright. |
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| WOMEN AND THE D-W |
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| From its inception, it was assumed that the D-W was much too arduous for women, and, when the rules were formulated, women were excluded from the race. The first woman who is known to have done the race was Sheila Burnett of Cambridge University Canoe Club, who, with her partner Colin Dickens, in 1971 finished in a time of 46 hours 50 minutes. However, they were subsequently disqualified by the committee when it learnt that Sheila was, in fact, female and they were removed from the race results. Fortunately this did not deter Sheila from canoeing, as she went on to represent Great Britain at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. Two years later in 1973 another lady, Anne-Marie Evans, entered under an assumed name with her partner Jonathan Hutt, both members of the Canoe Camping Club. They finished in a time of 49 hours 57 minutes. This time the committee allowed the result to stand and awarded them finishing certificates, while still firmly stating: “There is not and will not be a women’s class, since the committee will not encourage women to enter”. |
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| One should not be too critical of the D-W committee at this time, as their stance mirrored the prevailing attitude regarding women and sport. It was at the same time as women were entering running marathons and being manhandled out of races by officials. It all seems so ludicrous now, and having supported several women’s crews myself I can vouch for their arguably superior stamina. They certainly whinge less than some of the men: they just don’t have the large muscles to go as fast. With time, attitudes changed and in 1976 M. Hossack and D. Johnson of the Leverton Canoe Club became the first female crew to finish the race, with a time of 31 hours 6 minutes, and were placed 33rd out of 83 starters. In 1980, trophies were finally presented to the winning ladies and mixed doubles classes. This was recognition that as far as the D-W race was concerned, women were here to stay. Since that time, women competitors have gone from strength to strength, and in 1987, Susan Freeman of Hereford Canoe Club, paddling with her husband Andy, gained an unprecedented third place overall. The highest placed ladies crew to date has been that of Mary Garret and Sheila O’Byrne of Richmond Canoe Club, who in 1983, were placed 6th overall. The most successful woman competitor is Danielle Sellwood from Richmond Canoe Club. In 1994 she lowered the mixed doubles’ record to 17 hours 35 minutes with Brian Greenaway. They, one year later, with her partner Sandra Troop, Danielle lowered the women’s record to 18 hours 47 minutes. Finally, in 1997, in coming 3rd overall in the race Danielle became the first woman ever to win the civilian trophy. It is intriguing to speculate whether one year we will have a female competitor in first place. |
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| The junior Ladies’ event was introduced in 1978 and the pioneers in this event were the police cadets. The race now mirrors the junior race, with most of the entries coming from the public schools. The current record, held by Rachel Bland and Jo Turvey of the Royal Canoe Club and set in 1988, is 18 hours 45 minutes. Jo Turvey went on to represent Great Britain at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, reaching the final of the pairs event but this time in a rowing boat! |
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| Junior mixed doubles were added to the race in 1981 and again the police cadets provided the first winning crew. The current record is held by Worcester Canoe Club. |
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| OTHER RACE DEVELOPMENTS |
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| Concerned for the safety of paddlers attempting to run the D-W non-stop in singles (some successfully, including one by a Hungarian in a racing C1), the committee introduced a singles event in 1986 using the same stage format as the junior race. There was concern at the time that this would detract from the main doubles race, but this has not happened and after initial problems with some of the single paddlers using the faster junior doubles for pacing and wash-hanging, the singles event has greatly increased the overall number of competitors in the race. This event has proved especially popular with foreign competitors as knowledge of the course is not so vital. |
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| Finally, a junior / veteran class was introduced in 1989, with the intention of giving parents an opportunity to paddle with their offspring. However, judging by the entries in the race so far, most parents have been wise enough not to risk it, and have let their children paddle with someone else! |
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| A welcome initiative to the race in the 1980s, introduced by the chairman of the committee, Peter Begent, was the formal encouragement of competitors to raise money for charities by being sponsored to complete the race. Now, every year many thousands of pounds are raised by paddlers for numerous charities, and the Pfiffer Trophy is awarded to the crew raising the largest amount of money. |
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| The most thankless job on the race committee now must surely be that of Trophy Secretary, who now has to keep track of well over 50 trophies locating them, having them engraved and ensuring they are ready for presentation at the annual awards ceremony. With 50 trophies, that’s one for every year the race has been in existence. At that rate, what a job to volunteer for in another 50 years!? |
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| THE FUTURE OF THE RACE |
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| While the race continues to thrive, and is now well established in the British sporting calendar, the organising committee have come under increasing pressure to cancel the race in adverse conditions, something that would never have happened in the early years. The event now lives dangerously close to the modern obsession of trying to legislate adventurous activities out of existence, for fear of being sued by participants. The whole point of being challenged by the adventure of the D-W is that there is risk involved. Risk of failure, risk of injury, and even risk of death. Though there has never been a fatality during the race, there have been several in training, and several near-fatal incidents have occurred during the race. There is no doubt that one day a fatality will occur. Many potentially less dangerous canoe races have reported fatalities over the years. Given the thousands of competitors who have taken part in the race since its inception, that risk is, in my opinion, small and acceptable. |
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| The human character gains in confidence and self-reliance from the achievement of overcoming challenges like this. The D-W is a challenge that virtually every one can take up and succeed at. You don’t have to go to the Antarctic or pay someone to drag you up Everest, though you may gain more publicity doing so. The life-enhancing effects are the same. The services and Public schools probably know better than anyone how to develop human potential, and is no accident that they are the biggest supporters and participants in the race. |
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| Finally, the race depends on a whole army of volunteers in order to function at all. It has become unfashionable and also more difficult to give up the time to work for little thanks and no reward, but without volunteer workers and an organising committee the race would never happen. Many thanks go to all those people who have made the time and effort to make this great event possible; your efforts have been supremely worthwhile! |
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| [We are delighted to acknowledge with thanks the permission given by the author, Brian Greenaway, to reproduce this extract from his book The Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race] |
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