90 Seconds To 20+ Hours – Fiona Pennie-Douglas Takes on DW
“A former slalom paddler? Doing DW?” I hear them say. The idea might seem crazy and alien to most, but for a long time the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race of 125 miles has been sitting on my bucket list.
Established in 1948, this year marks the 75th anniversary of the long standing race which runs from Devizes in Wiltshire along the Kennet and Avon canal to finishing under Westminster Bridge on the Thames. If that distance isn’t long enough, there are 77 portages around locks and low bridges to run - just to spice things up a bit!
My mother is a former Canoe Sprint, Wildwater and Marathon paddler, but watching her friends race was as close as she got to DW! I’m not sure how long I’ve known of DW, but perhaps the seed was sown when my friends Gilly Mara and Kat Wilson took part 18 years ago. Of course, slalom training and racing was never going to allow for DW training so it was always on that list titled: “After Paddling Career”. I gently nagged Kat for the best part of 10 years for “one day”. Fast forward to 2023, the question I had always waited for came, Kat asked “will you be my 2025 DW wife?”.
“Wife” is quite an appropriate term – since September 2024 we’ve both been at the top of each other’s most contacted list on our phones, blabbered away for hours at all times of day and night on random stretches of water around the country and somehow Kat knows exactly what I’m thinking even when I’m sat behind her. Although silence usually means I’m hungry!
One particularly exciting paddle was on my birthday weekend in November. Kat arrived at my house with a parcel. Little did I know that her and my (real) wife had been plotting with the lovely PeakPS family to get me sorted with some Marathon kit! Didn’t the birthday girl look the pro in my new Marathon Racer PFD and Smock (in black with blue detail – obviously - if you know me!).
Pro, I am not. Yet. Luckily, paddling with a DW Veteran (Kat has completed the race 10 times before now and holds the Ladies Doubles record in a time just short of 18 hours), means I’ve been on a steep learning curve! How do you take apart a slalom paddling style that has been engrained for 32 years? Odd shaped paddles, rotation, knees in front of you, leg drive, pulling on a pull bar with your feet and operating a temperamental pump with your feet – all at the same time, and don’t forget to time that perfectly with the person sat in front you! Thankfully the Marathon PFD has a front pocket full of snacks to keep me going whilst keeping me watered with a bladder sitting in the back of the PFD.
It's been quite the journey seeing the lovely sights and not so lovely sights of the canals and rivers in and around the London and Thames areas. This weekend we’ll embark on another journey, hoping to keep our DW challenge to less than 20hrs and 46 minutes to break the Veteran Ladies Doubles record. However, a knee injury for Kat (turns out knees don’t like it if you stand on a hockey ball), a low river and a forecasted headwind will make that goal almost impossible. Our 7 strong support team will keep us well fed throwing boiled potatoes, bananas and oat bars into our mouths as we run (tottle) around the portages. The tide times this year dictate a late start on the Tideway section at Teddington and potential deployment of my slalom skills as we try to avoid the Thames traffic all the way to Westminster Bridge!
You can keep up with the whole of the DW race at https://www.dwrace.co.uk/dw-live-hub and track us live at https://live.opentracking.co.uk/dwrace25/, we are boat 326. Excited, nervous and trying not to think about the blisters, lack of sleep and, crucially, if there’s going to be enough snacks for us (me)!
