It was the most competitive DW in recent memory: international distance racers with Division 1 paddlers and DW winners in almost all the top boats. This was guaranteed to be tight, and no one could predict the winner with any certainty.

At the first checkpoint in Pewsey, the first eight crews were within only 5 minutes of each other. By the finish, the order would change repeatedly, and half the crews in the first eight would drop out of the race or drop off the pace, but the three crews that landed on the podium remained just 8 minutes apart.

Crew	Time to Pewsey
Jouke Witteveen / Floor Zegers	01:36:24
Bob Poole / Steve Tebbett	01:37:19
David Horkan / Dan Palmer	01:37:20
Andrew Birkett / Tom Simmons	01:37:22
Billy Butler / Jon O’Grady	01:37:22
Tom Sharpe / Anoushka Freeman	01:38:49
Lee Maddocks / Nick Perkins	01:39:15
Joe Petersen / Brynde Kreft	01:41:31

More than 100 miles down the course in Teddington, the top three had earned separation, but their order had completely flipped. The gap across all three was only two and half minutes. The final result would be decided on the tideway.

Crew	Time to Teddington
Joe Petersen / Brynde Kreft	15:14:50
Tom Sharpe / Anoushka Freeman	15:15:41
Billy Butler / Jon O’Grady	15:17:17

From the original Top 8, the Dutch crew of Jouke Witteveen / Floor Zegers dropped off the pace by Newbury but achieved a Westminster finish in 19:30:13. Bob Poole / Steve Tebbett made the risky decision in Devizes to wait until almost the last minute to start: they found early success wash hanging with Andrew Birkett / Tom Simmons until they fell off the pace and became one of more than 51% of crews who would never get to Westminster. The early Top 8 crew of Lee Maddocks / Nick Perkins faced the same “DNF” destiny for different reasons when Nick injured his knee shorly after passing through Newbury looking strong.

David Horkan / Dan Palmer faced rudder issues from early on, and Billy Butler / Jon O’Grady had to make a tough call: wait for Dan / David to fix their rudder so they could benefit from their wash hanging strategy all the way down the course and get the best shot at a podium finish? Or paddle on knowing they’d be alone for many hours to come?

After waiting for David / Dan once, Billy / Jon ended up pushing on alone. Would they still be able to make the podium without wash hanging down the course? Against such stiff competition? But the choice was made.

As the race wore on, the two mixed crews began climbing up the standings. 2024 winners Tom Sharpe / Anoushka Freeman outperformed their previous years’ times and standings, and took the lead from Newbury. Around the halfway point in Reading, Joe Petersen / Brynde Kreft were getting quicker while early favourites Andrew Birkett / Tom Simmons seemed to slow a bit. By Henley, Joe / Brynde had cracked the top 3. Billy / Jon’s choice to paddle on without David / Dan seemed to be working: David / Dan had lost more than 20 minutes trying to fix their rudder, and Billy / Jon were in second place just 6 minutes behind Tom / Anoushka.

Looking at the data on its own, the two mixed crews seemed to be having perfect races while many of the men’s crews around them were floundering. But speaking with Tom / Anoushka and Joe / Brynde after the race, it turned out they were suffering too. Three out of the four of them (all but Joe) suffered significant stomach issues, including a partiuclarly severe vomiting incident for Brynde Kreft 95 miles into the race. Tom / Anoushka even took a swim after stomach issues left them moving clumsily through portages. Another boat that took a swim in the cold water on that breezy night ended up retiring. But not Tom and Noushie: they plowed on.

In the latest episode of Paddlecast, Betsy and Billy discuss the race results from their perspectives on the land (Betsy live streaming) and on the water (Billy racing). They go in depth on the boat issues and racer illness going on behind the scenes, what made this year’s race unique, why the attrition rate was so high (and should it have been so high?) and what the future of the race could hold.

And coming into your Paddlecast feed next week, you can look for exclusive interviews with the crews who landed on the podium…

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