The race that doubles as a record is back again! 200 kilometres down the entire length of the navigable, non-tidal Thames River. It’s the longest river in England, “the most beautiful section of the Thames” according to naturalist Steve Backshall, and some of the fastest paddlers in the UK (and Europe) are racing down it this weekend. All the action will be streamed live on Saturday and Sunday here.
Relay Racers – Can Richmond defend their title?
The fastest racing will be between the top relay teams, with two of last year’s podium finishers back for more… Team Richmond & Friends from Richmond Canoe Club took the win last year in a terrifyingly quick time of 15:53:43. They were only six minutes ahead of second place, Royal Canoe Club. Although Royal hasn’t entered a team this year, third place finishers Chelmsford Empire are signed up and strengthened. This team led the first two stages of the race last year, and looked like potential winners until a wrong turn in the dark took them out of the running.
“Chelmsford Empire Strikes Back” is ready for revenge with a team led by reigning European Marathon Champion James “Jimbo” Russell. This is Jimbo’s second time racing, but first time for Chelmsford. Last year, it was a family affair for the Russells. But now, Jimbo is even faster, and his race will be all about speed. Rumour has it that Jimbo is racing two sections of the race. If you have the fastest marathon paddler in Europe on your team, might as well put him to good use, right?
Chelmsford’s team is stacked with returning racers from 2024, international marathon talent, and two up-and-coming juniors ready to have their names written in history as winners:
| CHELMSFORD EMPIRE STRIKES BACK |
| James Russell* |
| Will Stroud* |
| Pete Wilkes* |
| Tim Gannicott-Porter* |
| Cassian Payne* |
| James Walkinton* |
| George Hampton |
But as far as Chelmsford has gone to strengthen their relay crew, Richmond has gone even further. Last year, Richmond pulled off the win with a lean team of 4, all in K1s. Going up against K2s, it was a bit of a power play that showed the sheer speed of these paddlers. Three of those four are back in 2025 (unfortunately Andy Birkett is missing out due to injury), but with more than double the numbers and some seriously impressive names.
Juniors Will Short / Alex Worgan may be young, but after picking up medals at the European Marathon Championships earlier this season, they’ll be ready to go head-to-head with the best that Chelmsford can send out. George Durden won the Devizes to Westminster Stages race this year, ahead of Chelmsford competitor James Walkinton (Walkinton did beat him on the final day). And the rest of the crew includes more international marathon talent, DW winners and record holders and medallists…
| RICHMOND |
| Will Short |
| Alex Worgan |
| George Durden* |
| Tim Dowden |
| James How |
| Tom Sharpe |
| Joe Petersen* |
| Mike Lavarack |
| Brett Irvine* |
| Steve Baker |
It’s hard to say who will win. On the Paddlecast preview of the race, co-host Billy Butler predicted Richmond for the win, but with hesitation, saying: “I think it’ll come down to the last leg”.
While Richmond and Chelmsford are the two clear favourites, one team with equally impressive CV’s will be ready to overtake if given the chance. The star-studded women’s team of “No Buoys Allowed” will be led by DW winner, record-holder, and international marathon medallist Lizzie Broughton. The plan is for her to hop on the fastest wash she can hang, and stick with them for the first 27km.
From there, Lizzie will hand things off to two-time DW winner Anoushka Freeman in K2 with Sam Martyn, and more Team GB racers. Brynde Kreft and Katie Brookes, both racing K1, are looking forward to getting the mileage in ahead of Marathon World Championships in Gyor in a few weeks. It’s an incredibly strong team of women, and though they won’t have a women’s team to compete against, all it will take is minor mistakes from one of the top men’s teams to make it a close race.
| NO BUOYS ALLOWED |
| Lizzie Broughton |
| Sam Martyn |
| Anoushka Freeman |
| Brynde Kreft* |
| Sienna Payne* |
| Matilda Enoch |
| Elise Montagna |
| Nerys Hall |
| Katie Brookes |
With 17 relay teams entered this year, the racing behind the top teams could be just as exciting. These teams feature even more previous DW racers and winners including Olly Harding and Ian White, who held the DW record for about 30 seconds in 1979 before Brian Greenham / Tim Cornish swooped in. Olly and Ian will be racing with Team Bisham Paddlers. The cross-pollination between Devizes to Westminster and Thames 200 Ultra doesn’t stop there though: the DW Race Director himself, Paul Fielden, is racing for The Centurions. DW Chairman of Directors James Treadgold has joined in too, racing for the Newbury Nutters.
Speaking on Paddlecast, several of this year’s T200 racers emphasized how nicely the T200 crosses over with the DW, particularly as an entry-level race held in warmer weather and lower river current. Brynde Kreft said that racing T200 last year was the start of her 2025 DW campaign. It was the start of a very successful campaign, since she finished 2nd overall at DW with partner Joe Petersen, behind winners Tom Sharpe / Anoushka Freeman. Brynde even surmised that several of her teammates on “No Buoys Allowed” this year might also be using the T200 to kickstart their DW campaigns for next year… some future winners included perhaps? “Watch this space”, she predicted.
Barbarians vs. Machine Show Down
While most relay paddlers have chosen K1s or K2s, three teams have opted for canoes. And it could be an exciting race between the top two teams. C4 Barbarians have returned from 2024, but now in a four-person canoe rather than C1s and C2s. They have eight paddlers, and will swap between a men’s and women’s crew leapfrogging down the course. Green Machine will be racing C1s and C2s.
The C4 is theoretically a faster craft, but it’s bulky and may present challenges on the portages – team leader Tom Barnard said this will be one of the biggest challenges for the race. And Team Green Machine is full of very speedy paddlers: you may already know this team name as the crew who won the 2025 Yukon River Quest. Thor Harley, one of the Green Machine paddlers, is also a T200 returner: he was the fastest non-stop solo paddler in a canoe last year, and second fastest overall, finishing in 25:11:25. With so much speed and ultra experience on Green Machine, they’re likely to take the win, but it could be close.
The Non-Stoppers: Doubles
While most racers have opted to complete the 200km as a relay team, a number of determined paddlers are ready to face the distance all in one go. Seven crews will race as doubles, all in K2s this year, and 11 intrepid souls will go it alone.
In non-stop doubles, Mike Rees-Clark is the defending champion from 2024. But with a different partner, he has different goals. Last year, Mike teamed up with his sister Sam, an international marathon medallist (most recently at the Sella Descent) and current UK Marathon National Champion in K1 (despite being “retired”). Together, Mike and Sam finished the race in 18:34:13. They were 5th overall, ahead of 7 relay teams and all other non-stop paddlers.
But it wasn’t Mike’s idea to return this year: it was his wife, Karina’s. Speaking on Paddlecast, Mike said that Karina was looking for a personal challenge, and after a kayaking trip on the honeymoon in New Zealand, and watching Mike finish DW on Easter Weekend, she asked him if he’d be up to race the Thames 200 with her. Her prior paddling experience? “No more than an average Scout.”
Mike and Karina have been training hard, but the rest of the field is too close to predict who will be in that battle at the front. Many racers have strong Hasler and DW racing backgrounds, and if the crews are similar speeds, we could see sizable K2 packs forming especially through the night.
Solo Non-Stoppers
In the solo race, the field is split between the early start and late start. While originally intended to make it possible for stand up paddle boarders to make the time cut-offs, the 10am start has drawn more than SUPs this year: most of the K1 racers have opted to leave early. It’s an opportunity to finish the race a bit earlier on Sunday, avoid getting washed out in the mass start against top relay teams, and perhaps take advantage of a bit more wash hanging later in the race as non-stop doubles teams and relay crews pass by.
Only 3 solo non-stop paddlers will start at 2pm, and it’s the three most likely candidates to win: Tom Diaper, Isaac Blackman, and Harry Gilbert. All three are in Division 3 and above in the UK marathon ranking system (1 to 9 where 1 is the fastest), so the differentiation might come from their experience with ultras.
Harry Gilbert is racing with unfinished business after an unfortunate brush with hypothermia 100 km into the race last year. Though temperatures are more moderate in the summer, it can still get chilly overnight especially when your body is working overtime in a 200km paddling race. Harry has done a lot more training this year, which he’s enjoyed, and he’ll be focused on keeping a sustainable pace that will get him to the finish line smoothly.
Other than two finishes of the DW stages race as a junior, this will be Isaac Blackman’s first ultra. He’s been training hard, and just a few weeks ago got promoted from Division 3 to Division 2, indicating that his preparation seems to be working well – at least in the context of regular length marathon races. He’s most worried about pacing, and the temptation to race hard off the start against speedier relay teams or his fellow solo racers if they start too fast.
Tom Diaper, on paper, has to be the favourite. Tom has 4 senior DW finishes, including 2nd place with Jim King in 2015. He has a strong marathon paddling background, and might technically be the fastest marathon racer of this trio according to Hasler results. But he hasn’t done as much racing recently, and sources report that he’s coming off a family holiday and untimely illness. Harry and Isaac certainly have a chance.
In the SUP race, Chris Davison has returned to take the crown now that Gavin Symonds, the reigning champion and Thames River Fastest Known Time record holder, isn’t on the start list. In 2024, Symonds and Davison paddled next to each other for almost the entire race, until Symonds decided it was time to speed things up at the final checkpoint. Davison ended up finishing in 29:35:48, just about 15 minutes behind Symonds.
Competing against Chris on SUP will be Adrian Angell, Kevin Kohn, and Jonny Hebert. Angell is a hugely experienced ultra paddler, but his ultras typically have more of an adventure flavour than a race flavour. Every year, he takes on an immense challenge to raise funds for Diabetes UK, and he said the Thames 200 Ultra could be his toughest challenge yet.
How to follow along
Watch the Paddle Daily live stream on YouTube. We’ll be live for the first start on Saturday at 10am BST, the second start at 2pm, then at the first checkpoint in Newbridge where relay teams will be racing to see how fast they can complete their first changeover.
After Newbridge, we’ll move to a new stream link to keep you updated from Abingdon, where the sun will set and paddlers will start heading into the nighttime part of the race. You’ll be able to find updates on the Paddle Daily Facebook and Instagram accounts, as well as the Thames 200 Instagram account throughout the race.
On Sunday morning, we’ll resume the live stream from Teddington in time to catch the fastest relay teams at the finish, and continue to keep you updated as finishers arrive throughout the day.
For a full preview of the race including the full racer interviews, listen to the latest episode of Paddlecast.
Complete Start List
Scroll right to see all the names of the paddlers, including on each relay team.
Learn more about the race, and dot-watch at https://www.thames200ultra.com/
Paddle Daily 
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