Sunday 25 March 2012

Tapering and Planning - The Countdown Begins!

Having managed through our heavy training week ending with Waterside C on 12 March, our training has certainly changed pace. Whether it is ideal or not the last 10 days have seen us out in our boat only twice due to my work and family commitments (sorry Liz!). It just goes to show that even when you sign up to do something like this you still have to back peddle sometimes.

We have been spending our time doing some well needed land based preparations and guess what, that has even involved some retail therapy! Having received our registration details we found a list of kit which we are required to carry in our boat at all times, if we don't and we fail a kit inspection we get a time penalty! The list includes some logical things like spare food and drink, but also some slightly more worrying things like a survival bag, whistle and torch - incase we get lost!!!

We have less than 2 weeks before we head off so we are really winding down on the miles and winding up on our portage revision! Speaking to the "wise heads" at the Nottingham Kayak Club we should spend our last 7 days doing nothing but eating carbohydrates and sleeping - wouldn't that be a nice thought, nobody has told them that the last 7 days is the first week of the Easter holidays and with 6 children between us to entertain, feed and referee I can't see that happening!

Thanks for reading, don't forget to pop back and see how our last 2 weeks progress and then make a regular trip to the Channeling Positivity site during the event as Justine will be uploading a daily report through Tom and Phil our vital support crew.

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Sink or Swim?


Last week we entered into our biggest training week since we set off on our challenge. In April we will be paddling approximately 35 miles for 3 consecutive days with the final day of 17 miles down the Thames tideway. This week we completed 3 consecutive days of 20 miles per day - the longest we have ever paddled for and we did it without too many aches and pains!

Friday involved paddling on the canal going up, down and up again! We added some interesting portages in to keep our legs working and experienced our first "bush wee"! Unfortunately at 15 miles we realised we were 5 miles from home and only had 1 hour before school pick up so had to get a shimmy on to make
sure we fulfilled our responsibilities as mothers and not just our need to paddle!

Saturday saw 18 miles on the Trent and canal avoiding the rowers who seemed to be out in force with the sunshine. Justine had left me in the early hours of Saturday morning with "don't forget Claire, there is never a traffic jam on the extra mile". Liz and I pondered this over our 4hours on Saturday but still weren't sure we understood th
e relevance - any suggestions gratefully received!!

Sunday we went to Pewsey and raced in Waterside C. 23 miles on the Kennnet and Avon canal. The event is part of a series of 4 races on parts of the Devizesto Westminster course. Along side the 23 miles we had a total of 35 portages to complete - that is not a typo, the challenge of the course, so I am told, is the 35 locks you have to portage round, so our portage practice on the canal was invaluable.


What we had not factored into our training was kayaking through a tunnel. On the course there is a 516 meter tunnel - how hard can it be we thought?

Well the answer was VERY!

We entered the tunnel with the marshal shouting to inform us there were "swimmers in the tunnel". Up until that moment it hadn't entered my head that you might fall in in the tunnel! With that thought looming in our minds and the threat of a fast k2 immediately behind us, the dark and narrowness of the tunnel got the better of us and we too became "swimmers in the tunnel"!

So there we were, wet, in the dark and looking at either end of the tunnel thinking which end was closer to swim to - thankfully my brain was still working and as I looked backwards, which was slightly closer, I remembered that if we swam back to the start we would still need to paddle through it again - forwards it was then! Our hero, Jack, came to rescue us in his Canadian canoe and while Liz climbed in I continued to walk through the tunnel with the boat. 20 minutes later we arrived back in the sunlight! Once we climbed back into our boat and paddled on we decided that nothing else that day could be as bad so although we were colder we were invincible!!

We completed our 23 miles including our tunnel swim in 5hours 20 minutes. Not the fastest time on record but we finished! Both Liz and I managed to end up in the water at other points in our journey. For Liz, much to the amusement of a balcony full of people enjoying a Sunday lunchtime pint in the sunshine - the man who took that video needs to donate his £250 from "You've been framed" to Teenage Cancer Trust!!

So, our big weekend of preparation was completed- not without drama and certainly not without enjoyment! We learned a lot to help us in 4 week's time, least of all don't capsize in a tunnel.

Don't forget to visit our justgiving page, see the link jus
t to the right, and make sure you keep our spirits high by donating anything you can.

Sunday 4 March 2012

Two Ladies, one kayak and 125 miles!

The Channeling Positivity Foundation is hopefully is on its way to being a fully fledged and official foundation. Hooray! And of course the fundraising efforts still continue; Claire and Liz have bravely taken on the next challenge to help raise the profile of Channeling Positivity and raise some much needed funds to help us to "inspire young people to lead positive lives". Hopefully over the next few months we will have an official and rather swanky looking web site and of course Claire and Liz's blog about their mamouth kayak race of 125 miles......ouch!!!! So stay in touch and I hand you over to Mrs Claire Kay......................


Last year I watched Justine and Kate plough through their long, gruelling and at times ridiculous training regime to prepare for their amazing channel swim. I followed, supported and help them in their fund raising efforts. One morning walking home with Justine from the school drop off, she had been talking me through the training for the week and recounting how much weed she and Kate had washed out of their cozzies after swimming in the Trent. As normal I laughed a lot and told her she was mad. Then she asked me if there was any sporting challenge I had ever wanted to do. Not me, I do that sort of thing, but I recounted a gruelling kayaking challenge that some friends had undertaken the year before, the Devizes to Westminster kayak race - 125 miles, "well" she said, "you should do it." Despite my protests she left me saying "you should Claire, why not?." "Perhaps I will" was my response.

Perhaps I will - what was thinking! To Justine my armour had cracked, I had signed my contract, she had her next challenge for Channelling Positivity, whether I liked it or not! That was in June last year so what have I been doing? Kayaking, running, oh yes and a bit more kayaking!

I plied my friend Liz with wine one evening and she agreed to join me in a K2. In August we thought we should probably learn to kayak, good idea if we intended to do that for 125 miles! We had both done a bit of paddling with our kids at Nottingham Kayak Club but I think we definitely wore the label, novice!

Now it is March and we are 5 weeks away from our challenge. Unfortunately as the Channelling Positivity Foundation is not yet off the ground we have been unable to fund raise for the Foundation, but are fund raising for the Teenage Cancer Trust and hoping that in the last five weeks we can raise the profile of Channelling Positivity and see if we can help find a benefactor or two to get this charity off the ground.

The inspiration of watching others succeed is very powerful. Experiencing success for yourself can be life changing.

Our challenge may not be as intense as Justine and Kate's channel swim, but for Liz and I it has already pushed us further physically and mentally than we ever expected. We are not as fit or as dedicated to our training as the girls were, and we started from a lower base but we still intend to achieve our goal as "anything is possible if you have courage", so Justine tells me!

Over the next 5 weeks we will keep you up to date with how we are dealing with our preparations. If we can help inspire others to give a challenge a go, we can show that the fundamental aspiration of the Channeling Positivity Foundation is sound and worth supporting.