Irish pair to tackle toughest canoe race
While others tuck into their Easter eggs, Tadhg de Barra and Stephen Bagnall will lead a sizable Irish contingent at the Devizes to Westminster ('DW') international canoe race -- the toughest long-distance race in the world.
De Barra and Bagnell have high ambitions -- they aim to complete the 200km distance non-stop in around 20 hours.
Last year de Barra of the Salmon Leap club finished 16th place in the senior K1 at the DW with a time of 20hrs 15 mins 42 secs. No sooner was he home than he started planning for a K2 campaign in 2010, teaming up with Bagnell of Mullingar kayak club.
The pair began their joint preparations by paddling across the Irish Sea from Holyhead to Dublin last summer. A few weeks earlier De Barra had completed a kayak crossing of the North Channel from the north Antrim coast to Scotland.
For the DW, the pair face tactical as well as physical problems.
They can start anytime they wish on Saturday on the Kennet and Avon canal at Devizes Wharf, but must reach the Thames below Teddington Lock on the turning of the high tide. Get this right and they have the outgoing tide pushing them towards the finish at Westminster Bridge in London. Most crews start on Saturday afternoon and paddle through the night, aiming to finish the course late on Easter Sunday morning.
It's a gruelling endurance challenge for competitors in both the non-stop race and a slightly easier four-day stage race. In the early stages, they face 77 portages around canal locks, when they climb out of their boats, carrying them, and then get back in. Most years, a quarter of all entrants will give up. In 2008 icy headwinds meant that less than half the crews finished.
Irish competitors have a good record in the DW. First Irish winners were Jim Kennedy and David O'Donovan in 1983. More recently, Jim Morrissey and Mick O'Meara won the race three times in five years between 1999 and 2003. In 2005, Gary Mawer partnered British international Steve Baker to victory.
Last year, Ciaran Cooke and Don O'Brien from Cork's Phoenix club were fourth in 19hours and 15 minutes.
Other Irish entries this year include Pedro Lopez and Eamon Quigley from Salmon Leap, who go in the four-day challenge.
Race updates are available at www.dwrace.org.uk.
- Lindie Naughton
