UPDATE 7 October 2024

Yesterday, on Sunday 6 October 2024, Billy Butler broke the solo kayak record on the Thames. He set off at 4am to make the most of seasonally unusual fast flow on the river and daylight hours. At 8:31pm, he touched Teddington Lock. Paddle Daily followed along the whole way – check our Instagram Stories Highlight for the play by play.

Original

The length of the Thames has a few Guinness World Records associated with it, including the record that Billy Butler broke in spring 2024 with Tom Dawson: 15 hours 44 minutes. But the Guinness records are cumbersome – only some records are ‘official’ (for example, there don’t seem to be official records for ‘fastest female’ available), record-setters have to submit a huge body of video evidence including GPS and witnesses, and it’s expensive to apply. There are also certain rules about whether you can wash hang, and different records for whether you portage the locks or wait to be let through them (thereby staying on the water the entire time).

Now that we have an official race that covers the full length of the Thames, let’s start thinking about the records with a more comprehensive, fair approach:

• The official “length of the navigable non-tidal Thames” matches the Guinness World records: it starts from Ha’penny Bridge in Lechlade and finishes at Teddington Lock
• If paddlers complete the length of the Thames as Guinness sets out, this is considered a record (they don’t have to match the race distance)
• If paddlers complete the Thames 200 Ultra race, this is considered a record
  • The Thames 200 Ultra race is slightly longer than the official lengthof the Thames (starts before the bridge, finishes about 600m back up from the lock)
  • Race times are equally viable records since they’re actually covering more distance than the length of the Thames; However, the extra distance will not be deducted from race times to make for faster records
• Portages are allowed. Records that involve waiting out all or some of the locks can be considered elsewhere but won’t be considered here.
• Wash hanging is fair game as long as it follows the race rules and general logic (i.e., no getting rides from motorboats).

With those guidelines in mind… here’s the current Thames River Records:

RECORD	TIME	YEAR	RECORD HOLDERS
SUP (men)	29:19:50	August 2024	Gavin Symonds
Single Kayak (men)	16:31:00	October 2024	Billy Butler
Single Canoe (men)	25:11:25	August 2024	Thor Harley
Kayak Doubles (men)	15:44:29	April 2024	Billy Butler & Tom Dawson* (*Guinness Record from Ha’penny Bridge to Teddington Lock in April, slightly shorter than the race distance and in full flow)
Kayak Doubles (mixed)	18:34:13	August 2024	Michael Rees-Clark & Samantha Rees-Clark
Kayak Doubles (women)	21:33:00	April 2024	Nadia Weigh and Kerry Lewis (Wey Kayak Club)*(*Potential Guinness Record from Ha’penny Bridge to Teddington Lock in April, slightly shorter than the race distance and in full flow)
Canoe Doubles (men)	25:20:12	August 2024	Ian Thackray, Daniel Colby
Relay	15:53:43	August 2024	“RCC & Friends”: Andrew Birkett, Joe Petersen, George Durden, Brett Irvine

There’s a number of records still up for grabs (at least according to known times):

SUP (women)
Prone (men)
Prone (women)
Single Kayak (women)
Canoe Doubles (mixed)
Canoe Doubles (women)

Some of these are likely to fall as soon as next March. James Fletcher, who had to withdraw from this year’s Thames 200 Ultra race due to his heart condition, has already said he’ll make another attempt at the prone record in March when the water levels are higher. Alexandra Tyrer-Lomas, who attempted the Thames 200 Ultra by SUP, has also confirmed that she’s aiming for the length of the Thames record.

There may yet be some unofficial times for those doubles records floating in the ether… If you have more information on historic fastest known times, or feedback on this approach to the records, leave a comment or email betsy@paddlermedia.co.uk. How many more records will fall before the Thames 200 Ultra 2025?