Brenda & Bob's Excellent Adventure: the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race 2010 by Gareth Stevens

CANOE NEWS Spring 2010 Vol 43/1-sp

Left: Bob Vincent and Brenda Bowie cross the finish line of the 2010 Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race.

Spring Special:

Vol 43 Issue 1-sp

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Brenda and Bob’s Excellent Adventure

Devizes to Westminster

Stayed neither by rain nor flood nor darkness nor swans nor mud nor stomach virus nor hypothermia nor “charlie horses in the chest” from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed, Brenda Bowie and Bob Vincent paddled to second place in the “Canadian Canoe” division - posting the sixth fastest time historically (that’s sixth fastest behind the record set in 2007 by Bob’s son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Fiona Vincent). Brenda’s account is a fast-paced marathon in itself, extracts published in print in Canoe News but published in full here.

Brenda & Bob’s Excellent Adventure

the Brits’ term for the kind of singleblade driven open canoes common in north America. Mike and Fiona still hold the record. Bob had worked his The Devizes to Westminster way down a list of elite paddlers like International Canoe Race Al Rudquist, Joe Shaw, Peter Heed, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brenda Bowie even Gareth Stevens. Somehow, he Invitation and Winter Training ended up with me. The prospect was exciting but the concept daunting. Halloween weekend last year I reThe paddle I had put up after the Josh ceived an email from Bob Vincent (the Great Josh Billings Run-Aground asking if I would be interested in Triathlon – September 13, 2009) had paddling a 125-mile canoe race with to come back down. Somehow, I him in England. His son Mike and daughter-in-law Fiona had set a record would need to be trained through a there in 2007 in “Canadian Canoe” – winter in New England and be ready

to race a longer and more difficult race than I had ever done. I accepted the challenge and borrowed an outrigger boat to paddle solo during the winter months and committed to the task. Thanksgiving Day was spent on a 7-hour paddle: one hour with company, the rest solo. Thanks to virtual training partners Bob Vincent, Don Stoneman and David Vandorpe, I had people on my case and adding to the challenge over the winter. Emails were exchanged on a regular basis outlining the workout of the day. Florida training was cut short by flight cancellations, but a hastily arranged rental car gave us four days together. On March 25, we arrived in Jolly Old England for “Brenda and Bob’s Excellent Adventure: the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race”!

We Arrive in England And Find Our Boat Bob, paddles in hand, arrived at Heathrow airport – but his luggage (with all the gear for boat set-up)

Our first look at the River Thames, at Windsor, on the day of our arrival in the UK.

Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

The Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race: 2010 Bob at work in Stone, setting up our boat – work space courtesy of Outdoor Active, Ltd.

Our jury-rigged right-way-up boat carry. Why? Well, in England rain is rare and water is scarce, and by this method we would be sure to catch some on those rare occasions when it ...

didn’t. My own luggage had been rearranged in such an odd way that it was clear that TSA didn’t quite know what to make of the contents – empty 2-liter soda bottles, drink mix (explosive powder maybe?), drink tubing, stinky shoes, PFDs and maple syrup for the pit crew. We figured that Photos copyright © 2010 by Brenda Bowie

Bob’s luggage (even more suspicious to the uninitiated) had been confiscated and he had been tagged as a national security threat; British border security would be coming to get him at any time. In fact, his bags turned up the following day. We made a stop in Windsor on our

way north to the town of Stone where we spent the first three days outfitting the boat. At Windsor we got our first look at the River Thames. I had been warned that swans are a river hazard and are known to attack, but I wasn’t ready for how many there would be! Some places, they were so concenCanoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

Brenda and Bob’s Excellent Adventure UK Olympians practice on grand opening day of the new whitewater course in Cardiff, Wales.

trated that the river would be white. They are big, too: they put our geese to shame. The river was beautiful in daylight, with lots of current. However, we’d be paddling this section in the dark. We then moved to Reading where the Kennet & Avon Canal meets the Thames. This is at mile 54 of the race. The current there was quite strong, too. At this point in the race there is a mandatory portage: a major milestone. Here the race officials will inspect us and deem us worthy of continuing or pull us out of the race. After this point the portages become less frequent! At Stone I met my first ICF canoe. It was long and low to the water. This boat is the original ICF 21-foot sitdown canoe designed by Gene Jensen and built by Wenonah… complete, in this case, with Canadian flag on top. We pulled the boat from storage on our first day and made plans to get it set up the following morning. We spent an entire morning working on the boat and creating a throne for Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

Bob to sit on. His luggage arrived mid morning with all the supplies. I gained the nickname “Princess” when I sat in the boat and was insistent that the legs felt lopsided. Sure enough, after pulling out the measuring tape we discovered that it was truly lopsided and none of the others who had used the boat had noticed. So like the Princess and the Pea, I earned my nickname. We took the boat out on the water and once I got used to its “rolly” feeling we discovered that we were extremely bow heavy. We rapidly returned to the shop and did some work on the seat to get me back as far as possible. Even that wasn’t enough so the entire contents of the heavy mandatory emergency kit had to be stored behind my seat to make us trim.

Cardiff, Wales. We were able to go as his guests to the grand opening of the first official Olympic standard artificial whitewater course in the UK. It was truly amazing. While we were there the Welsh and British whitewater teams were training. The opening ceremony included the UK’s first Bob Skeleton Olympic gold medal winner (Vancouver, 2010), Amy Williams. We also met Sandy Buttle, the head of the Welsh Canoeing Association.

Our first longer paddle was on a canal near Richard’s shop: this canal was very wide and the wind was crazy. You would set the angle of the boat to the wind and a half second later it was coming from a different direction. It was a great opportunity to get used to the boat because the wind threw every condition possible at me as I learned We Meet Our Wonderful Pit Chief to steer this boat. I soon didn’t even Our pit chief and host, Richard Ben- feel the roll of the boat and with Bob nett, is the owner of Outdoor Active, in the bow it was rock steady. Ltd. He was an incredibly gracious We Move to Devizes host in spite of the fact that he was We left early morning Saturday for very busy with having the grand opening of his new paddling store in Devizes: our home base until the

The Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race: 2010

race. We did our time trial for the race that morning. This time trial is extremely important because we needed to judge when we would start the race by when we predicted we would hit Teddington lock. If we reach it too early - we will have to wait until 1/2 hour before high tide to proceed and if we reach it too late (3.5 hours past high tide) we will have to wait for the next tide. This idle time will be part of our race time, so we want to keep it to a minimum. There is no group start to this race; all the boats leave at their own chosen time (determined by their own time trials). So, drafting is difficult because the only boats we will see are the boats that start ahead of us and technically they should be slower. Hopefully, we will not be passed by a boat that leaves after us! Much of the canal (18 feet wide in parts) is only slightly wider than the sidewalk section at the start of the AuSable River Canoe Marathon, so it is easy to see why a group start doesn’t work either. There are houseboats all up and down the canal system and when we pass by two abreast there is

A public map of the Kennet & Avon Canal. Every lock and portage is marked with an arrow. Normally there are 77 portages in the race (canal and river combined). This year: 79 – because with 2010’s high water, two bridges were too low to pass under, and had to be portaged.

Lockmaster Bob at work ...

Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

Brenda and Bob’s Excellent Adventure

started on a pub bet in the nearby town of Pewsey during a strike of the rail and bus lines in 1920. A wager was set that a group of friends couldn’t go from the River Avon at Pewsey to the sea at Mudeford in three days. Using a 26-foot sculling skiff two of them did it with 12 hours to spare. This was well publicized, but not repeated for another 27 years. In 1947 a crew of 4 covered the course in 51 hours. The race itself started in 1948 after a local resident set up a prize to anyone beating the time of 51 hours. The route was changed to the Kennet & Avon canal in 1948 and to Easter weekend. Over time, the race became a method of testing military preparedness (hence the sub-divisions of the military competing). The race continues and is now regaining popularity since it peaked in the 1970s.

Bob (in blue) and bank crew members (left to right) John Carter, Richard Bennett of Outdoor Active, Ltd (www.canoeandkayakstore.co.uk), and Andy Smith – at the start staging area.

We Conduct a Time Trial, Upset a Swan, and Scout the Course

only about 3-foot gap for us to slide through. Some of these houseboats are recycled barges from when the canal was in use for trade.

We Ponder the History of the Event

of being attacked. So an inland route was created. The canal system was a major route for commerce until highways were built and roads became a faster method for transporting goods. The canal fell into near ruin when its trade use was abandoned. An upwelling of public and private support saved it. Now the canal is a major route for houseboats and recreation.

The Kennet & Avon Canal was originally built in 1810 to provide a trade route to move goods across England. During the French Revolution it was too dangerous for trading boats to move up the English Channel for fear The Devizes to Westminster race was Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

Our time trial was held between Devizes and a little village called Wootton Rivers, where the first lock and therefore the first portage of the race would be. The route itself was uneventful; what affected our time (other than our proficiency as paddlers) were wind, river weeds (we did a lot of bow clearing in sections), fishermen with telescoping lines (one who tried, I’m sure, and succeeded in hooking me) and SWANS! One swan looked at Bob, didn’t react, then looked at me with my white baseball cap and gave me a dirty look and ruffled his feathers. We paddled on and he went off to his mate. She must have scolded him for not being braver because 30 seconds later it sounded like a freight train coming at me as he gave chase, wings pounding the water. Later, when I checked my heart rate monitor, I saw a max of 160! That wasn’t from the paddling. Following our time trial and conferPhoto copyright © 2010 by Brenda Bowie

The Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race: 2010

ring with the Devizes to Westminster race book we predicted our overall time would be between 20 and 21 hours. With the high tide predicted to be at 6:59am on Sunday, this made our starting time for the race 1:30pm Saturday. Most boats leave between 8:00am and noon. Any that planned to leave after noon had to declare their time to the race officials by Wednesday. On Sunday, we spent our one-hour paddle going through Bruce Tunnel at Savernake. This tunnel goes a little over a quarter mile under the road (you can see where the channel disappears when viewed on Google Earth). It was interesting because, as we approached the tunnel, it didn’t look that long and we could see the light at the other end. Once we were in the tunnel, however, it became longer, and longer, and longer.... Huts echoed multiple times as they bounced off the walls, giving Bob plenty of choice to decide when to!

Bob in the bow – heading to the starting line. Sheltering from the snow in the Outdoor Active van at the start area.

And in the tunnel, with Bob sitting up front there was no “light at the end of the tunnel” for me, so I paddled in near total darkness and with a disturbing feeling of vertigo. After the tunnel experience we took off toward the Thames to look at the locks that we needed to inspect. Three of them had rollers – devices to allow smaller boats to be dragged up and over the locks, to save them having to go through. I had never seen rollers before and wasn’t sure what to expect. They were not at all what I had envisioned. We were glad that we inspected them because if the water remained high we would have a difficult time getting back into the boat. There would be little flat space for getting back in the boat. We would have to get in on the downhill slanting rollers to slide in, or wade out into the water. A phone call to Photos copyright © 2010 by Andy Smith

Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

Brenda and Bob’s Excellent Adventure

Mike Vincent warned us that once we got to the rollers we should plan on wet feet either way. At this time the rain had been so heavy that, with the prospect of serious flood conditions, there was now talk about the race being postponed a tide to put the majority of racers on the Thames during the daylight. Unfortunately for us, we would be on the Thames during the dark hours either way and would then also have big ship traffic to contend with on the tidal section – which we wouldn’t have if the race was held as usual. We would find out for sure on Wednesday.

Final Preparations, More Practice, More Scouting The following days leading up to the race were spent getting “all our bits and bobs together.” We even had to get our own Bob back together after he noticed on a press release that he was the oldest competitor: the release described participants from the ages of 15 to 67.

We spent a bit of time looking at the Crofton locks. This is a section where locks come one after the other. We needed to make the executive decision whether to run them or to portage them. We were definitely faster in the boat than running, but then we had to factor in the entering and exiting of the boat. It looked like we would have close to a mile run if we stayed off the water. An additional factor this year was the mud. There was a small section where it would be barely worth getting in the boat. However, because the mud was so bad it probably made more sense for both speed and safety to get back in and paddle. We would hold this decision until race day to see what the conditions were like after the 300 boats churned up the mud ahead of us. By this time we had gotten to know a lot of the locks – the canal locks were very straightforward. Usually it was in and over the lock. Sometimes it was in and over a country road

as well. Sometimes the locks run through the center of a town, too. Our timing for getting out of the boat was getting pretty solid at this point. We were moving fast and smooth with this now. Bugs we had to work out included how to get out: sticking ones butt up onto the dock first seemed to be the safest way on slippery surfaces. I would pop out quickly and would leave a foot or hand on the boat to stabilize it as Bob got out. We would then lift out the bow first and Bob would need to remember to keep the bow low as I got the boat lifted over the moorings that line the lock landings. The first few times we heard an unpleasant smashing sound on the moorings. Then up with the boat, and go. The race itself is 125 miles in a straight shot for our class, the Senior Doubles. The first 54 miles are on the Kennet & Avon canal system. There are over 50 locks to portage through this section. Then we would move on to the River Thames in the

Devizes to Westminster race banner adorning Ceres Hall – the beautiful old Corn Exchange building in Devizes.

Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

The Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race: 2010

night: this section runs another 52 miles. From Teddington lock, which is the beginning of the tidal way, there are 18 more miles to complete. The Junior and Endeavour classes do the race over four days during which time they cannot move more than 100 yards from the river bank.

The food was good. Pubs were the source and we found an inexpensive pub in town. However, it didn’t take me long to realize that peas were served at every meal except breakfast. It also didn’t take me long to lose my liking for them and to discover why the pea shooter was invented. Wednesday we went down to Reading to paddle the Thames for an hour. We had a shuttle set up. This gave us a chance to see the river lock takeouts and put-ins. They are quite different than the canal locks. This was helpful because on race day we would be negotiating them in the dark. Thursday and Friday were spent touring Devizes, visiting the market, reviewing pits with Richard, and grocery and supply shopping for the race. Friday we went out in the rain and watched the four-day stage race start and watched it go through Crofton. There we saw a few boats flip into the water as they tried to get out up the high banks to portage. We also saw a new challenge that we didn’t expect. One section of canal had completely emptied because a houseboat incorrectly secured the gates after moving through. This created a mandatory extra long portage for many of the stage racers. We understood this could happen to us.

Brenda and Bob waiting for their start on the Kennet & Avon Canal, shortly after 1:30pm, April 3, 2010. We were off at 1:41pm. An Endeavour crew at the first Crofton lock: a good example of how high many of the portage takeouts were. In the race, after the (fortieth? fiftieth?) of these portages, Bob said to himself, “I’m getting too old for this ...” – and later told his son, Mike, who replied, “Dad, I felt old at that point, too!”

In the last couple of days before race start I was hit with a stomach virus, not a happy thing. With discomfort and diarrhea I lost a lot of liquid and – we later realized – enough weight to throw out our trim. Photos copyright © 2010 by Andy Smith Photos copyright © 2010 by Brenda Bowie

Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

Brenda and Bob’s Excellent Adventure

Bob and Brenda 24 minutes into the race, on the Kennet & Avon Canal near Horton Bridge. We had a wonderful and very supportive pit crew of three great guys: Richard Bennett, Andy Smith and Race day finally arrived. Our start John Carter. Our fan club grew as time was scheduled for 1:30pm. we went down the river. It was excitWhen we arrived at the line all but three of the teams had left. The first ing to hear the voices cheering for us increase at each vantage point. was last year’s winners, the second was a British Olympian with a highly The beginning of the race went well. rated partner, and the third was us. Extreme mud and high walls at some Bob wanted to see if we could catch of the locks made portages very challast year’s winners. They were signed lenging. At one point I had to lie up for the same departure time as we down on my stomach to reach down had. There was some game-playing to get the boat out then roll over on as we both delayed our starts. We my back in the mud to get it up and put in a few minutes after they left over me. The portages also proved to – and weren’t able to catch them, as it be a challenge to Bob’s knees. As we turned out! came to each portage I could see him My stomach problems had persisted preparing mentally to get himself unright up to start time, but once we folded and out of the boat. Once out were under way, thankfully, things of the boat he moved along well and settled down. getting back in the boat was smooth. We played back and forth with a few The weather was iffy – rain showers young kayakers who were less efcame and went, as well as snow! I had finally picked the right clothes to ficient at getting back in their boats and would draft them on and off. start and found layers that could be added or subtracted over my PFD as Somewhere in the night we dropped them as their initial energy wore off. we went along. Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

We Start the Race: Portage after Portage – and Mud

It was difficult to memorize every lock but at most of them it was easy to figure out where to portage. One time we did get out on the wrong side and had to manipulate our way with the boat on our shoulders across a lock gate (kind of like a crooked gang plank). That was a little scary. Most portages were covered with mud so our feet were wet the entire race. I was very glad I brought my unfashionable wool socks: they worked well. At times the locks came so quickly that you would barely settle into a paddling rhythm before the next one arrived. Between others there was more time to get settled in the boat. However, I was grateful for them all as time passed because they provided a continual “next goal” to accomplish. A bit of disaster struck after our last pit on the canal. We had scooped up a bit of water with the portages, so we dumped the boat and managed to dump my entire bottle in the process. I had already eaten my food when handed to me but now I had Photos copyright © 2010 by Andy Smith

The Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race: 2010 The winning team in the Canadian Canoe division, 2010: Tom Fryer and Gary Watts of Hemel Hempstead, UK. They are here about 39 minutes into their race (at 2:19pm). [Note: Times in all these captions are based on the camera’s EXIF time stamp.]

Bob and Brenda at Pewsey, 3:29pm.

to go two hours without any more drink or food. A good feature of this section was the extra current, provided by the Kennet River that wound itself in and out of the canal. But along with the welcome current came very wet locks where we had to get out in water that overflowed the docks. The run from the second to last lock Photos copyright © 2010 by Andy Smith

on the canal was surreal. We entered this portage with some kayakers and the dock was only big enough for one boat to get in at a time.

between a Disney ride and being flushed down a toilet! It was surreal as we sped between concrete walls with neon signs and people in bars staring down over us. We quickly The Kennet was feeding in at a furicaught the kayakers, took the final ous rate above us to the left. The turn off the canal, and entered the kayakers put in and were immediThames. ately whisked a quarter mile down the river. We put in and took off for Dreadnought Reach is the marker a carnival ride that was somewhere for the end of the canal. Here is that Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

Brenda and Bob’s Excellent Adventure 5:25pm, heading for Great Bedwyn lock.

mandatory portage where the race officials look you over and decide if you are in good enough condition to proceed. We passed inspection. Darkness had fallen at about 7:40pm. We had predicted our arrival at Dreadnought Reach for about 11pm. We actually made it closer to midnight.

a nice pace. We would paddle 4-5 miles, then portage. Each river lock had a weir – a low dam – to one side. Above the weirs could be a little scary with the water rushing over at flood level giving our boat a nice pull in that direction. Below the weirs the water was a bit choppy but added to the speed. However, shortly beyond the weirs the current often slowed We Move to the Thames and down a bit where the flooding took Head for the Tidal Reach the river beyond its banks. Many teams changed their clothes I had written little notes to myself on here, then had to relaunch in eight my pit bag, after studying the river inches of water. (We had already on Google Earth. Simple instrucadded extra clothing layers by this tions, for example, of RR, LR, or time because of the rain showers IR (River Right, Lock Right, Island coming and going.) I heard one Right) became invaluable as we went crew complain about getting their newly acquired dry socks wet. The through unscouted territory. The river was also marked fairly well with water was so high we accidentally put our boat in on the inside of the reflective signage that our bicycle lamp did a good job of picking up. moorings on top of the dock (they were completely underwater). At this point, my brain was so frazzled from what I thought was About an hour after Dreadnought Reach, Bob announced that we had exhaustion, I could only focus on finished paddling a Clinton and now the instructions for the next lock. I it was time for an AuSable – and that kept repeating them, “River Left, felt about right. Lock Right,” over and over in my head. When Bob pointed out a After this, the river locks came at Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

sign on river right, my response was “River Left, Lock Right”; when Bob said “Slow down, we need to know where we’re going,” again I explained: “River Left, Lock Right”; his response was, “Damn, you’re one stubborn woman,” to which I said... “River Left, Lock Right”. After the next pit, I had another drink problem when my hose clogged. I had to paddle five miles again without drinking, before I could get my hose to work again. We had been running behind our goal race time of 21 hours, but as we worked our way down the river section we made up for some of the time lost portaging, and started to catch up. The night passed quickly and our pit crew was incredible with how often they showed up at locks to guide us over and pop food in our mouths as we were getting back in the boat. At one point one of them tried to add a fig newton to a mouth already filled with banana. It was comical. My brain was getting fuzzy shortly before morning and I could focus only on keeping the boat going Photos copyright © 2010 by Andy Smith

The Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race: 2010 Bob and Brenda by the rollers at Teddington lock at 8:25 am.

straight, which turned out to be a challenge because the trim that we had worked so hard to get before the race was gone. That stomach virus must have lightened me a lot. The boat kept veering left once we were in open river vulnerable to the wind, and I had to draw like crazy, over

and over, to keep the boat straight. We finally realized how badly the trim was off when Bob was sitting in water and none was coming back to me and the bailer. By the end of the race my left shoulder was in such bad shape I had to rudder to keep the boat straight.

The Final Stretch: Bob’s “Charlie Horses in the Chest” Emergency We reached Teddington in time for the tide. However, the pressure was not off because if we didn’t reach Richmond lock by two hours after high tide they put up the gates

Bob and Brenda going down the tidal way, 9:23am.

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Brenda and Bob’s Excellent Adventure

his pill container and started paddling again with a bit less strength than before.

The finish line stairs at Westminster, the “Steps Crew” helping Bob out of the boat: 10:43am.

Considering what I do for a living (I’m a cardiology nurse practitioner), I was scared to death that the “charlie horse” was the “big one” and the toll of the race had hit him. From there on in, my focus was on getting Bob to the finish line before he collapsed. I was constantly scanning the 10-foot walls of the Thames trying to figure the safest line for me to use to get us to safety, where I could get us out of the river if Bob went over. I gave up the fastest current and hugged the lowest side when there were no boats around to witness us go over and moved back to the center only when other boats were around. Little did I know then that this is a common occurrence with Bob: muscle spasms cured by calcium from Tums. I didn’t find this out until he emailed me after the race!

The Last Half Mile and Collapse

blocking any tidal flow. This extra tidal flow was a gift we didn’t want to give up. By Richmond, I was completely unsure of the time and not sure if we had made it. The description of the lock that I remembered was off when we arrived there and I was worried Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010

the rest of the race that we had lost that extra flow. My worries turned to alarm when suddenly Bob stopped paddling, grabbed his chest and rasped, “We’re in trouble now Brenda. I am having charlie horses in my chest.” He groaned, grabbed something out of

The last half mile had the added thrill of big boat traffic and wakes. This we paddled through slowly and stayed upright. The view of the London Eye let us know we were near the finish. We tucked behind a barrier of boats to the steps of the finish. There the finish line crew took over our boats in the waves and removed each of us one by one. These guys were incredible. There were a few guys on tethers in full wet and dry suits literally swimming in the river at times to get our boats stable in the waves. Each competitor was helped out of the boat and then sent up the stairs where we received our finisher’s medal at the top. Bob and I shared our finish hug before he was led off to the van. I was slowly brought behind him. I got a quick picture Photos copyright © 2010 by Andy Smith

The Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race: 2010

taken of myself in front of Big Ben. Then I began to feel not so well.

Brenda Bowie after the finish of the race. “There isn’t a group photo, because I went unconscious shortly after this photo was taken.”

By the time I made it to the van, Bob was in dry clothes and had eaten a few Kit Kats and was feeling better. As for me, my shoulder decided it was done and I could no longer move my right arm and I was struggling with dizziness. I thought exhaustion had just hit me. I couldn’t even think of getting my wet clothes off and climbed into the back of the van and laid myself right down. I argued with Richard about taking me to the hotel room and letting me go to sleep – because, I kept telling him, it was only “two blocks away” – as if I knew. Fortunately he could see I was in worse shape than I realized and insisted on getting an EMT. I woke up in an emergency department having my clothes cut off. Hypothermia had snuck up on me, all the symptoms having been hidden by the adrenaline of the race and my concern about Bob. My potassium had been depleted to scary levels most likely from my pre-race stomach problem. I received excellent medical care from the British health care system (absolutely free). They had my blood pressure up quickly and my heart rate picked back up as my temperature rose. We had reached our goal of under 21 hours with 16 seconds to spare. This gave us second place in the Canadian Canoe class for this race, and sixth best time historically. We finished 21st (of 150) overall in “doubles”. The race was an unforgettable adventure and I am so honored that Bob asked me to do it. It was a great experience to paddle with this amazing man and do “the Paddler’s Everest.” Would I do it again???? Like labor, just give me a little time to forget. Photos copyright © 2010 by Andy Smith

Canoe News 43/1—Spring 2010