Paddlathon 2007 -whassat then?

Ok, I promise to post something technical and interesting shortly (yes I know, that’ll be a first yada yada…) but I want to get some information up here about Paddlathon 2007. I’ve written a very quick site which I will be adding more information to shortly but it already has a lot of information about our charity canoe race and more importantly a donation form so once you’re done reading this pop over to www.paddlathon.co.uk and have a look.

I wanted to compete in the Cheshire ring race 2007 for a few personal reasons but the initial motivation was that I missed out on taking part in the Transpennine race –this was stopped the first year I was old enough for my canoeing club to allow me to participate so ever since I’ve wanted to take part in a long race (preferably overnight etc) as I felt it would be fun so when I was handed a flyer for a 96 mile canoe race last season at Bristol I decided it was the perfect choice! There is another long race called Devizes to Westminster which is around 124miles at Easter –which didn’t leave enough time to train or find a partner.

The Cheshire ring race is a 96 mile canoe race but at the end of June which meant more time to train and as it was nearer to summer it would also be warmer. Until a couple of seasons ago, I paddled with my canoe coach –and long term friend Paul Rose but sadly he damaged his back (thanks to me) going over a weir. He’s getting back into canoeing, but having vowed to paddle together again I suggested the Cheshire ring race as a worthy race.

Paul was immediately up for it and once we had got chatting we thought it had enough of a “wow” factor to be worthy of sponsorship and so Paddlathon 2007 was conceived… a 96 mile canoe race is without a doubt a bloody long way and knowing he may still have issues with his back over that sort of distance we decided doing it as a relay race would be better so we decided to get my two brothers Sam and Pat on board as they’re both keen paddlers and are always up for a challenge.

Originally we were going to raise money for a single charity but decided as there were four of us, it would be better to pool our collection efforts and raise for four charities together. The charities we’ve chosen are:

• Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust

  

• Multiple Sclerosis Society

  

• CLIC Sargent

  

• Mac Millan Nurses

  

To my knowledge, I’ve never asked for anything for the information I openly share on my blog –and I probably never will (beyond the Google AdSense that appears in the design that is) but I would very much appreciate it if you were generous enough to donate a couple of quid as there are some great charities who dearly need your help.

I’ll post more information on the charities, the team and the boat over the forthcoming weeks but the race is June 30th – July 1st, if you fancy coming and seeing us off –or having a pint with us after the race that would be awesome.

Read more or donate online at: www.paddlathon.co.uk