Leighton’s Daniel Seaford teamed up with Stuart West from Worcester Canoe Club to keep his fantastic 125 mile marathon record alive.
The Devizes to Westminster Canoe Marathon started at 4pm on Saturday for the duo and they paddled through the night in sub zero conditions and a bitterly cold wind.
At one point, when Daniel was re-entering the boat after portaging a lock, all in the dark of course, he tumbled straight out the other side and into the icy water, so had to finish the race wet from the inside out.
They completed the course in 16 hours, 44 minutes – 30 mins ahead of their arch rivals from Richmond and over 170 other teams that entered the senior doubles class.
In last year’s race, Daniel and James Keeble could only manage second place behind the same Richmond team, as James became very ill en route and, as it turned out, had aggravated a previously unknown bowel condition, meaning he spent the next week recovering in hospital.
Daniel grew up in Leighton and started canoeing when he was invited along to a trial at the Leighton Buzzard Canoe Club by his friend, Leonard who lived next door to him in Jupiter Drive.
Leonard didn’t take up the sport, but Daniel stayed on to represent Leighton in many races both nationally and in Europe, all the way through his school years until he left home for university.
While studying at Reading University he joined the canoe club there, and the rest as they say is history.
With different partners, Daniel, has, in F1 terms, made the podium on each of the four occasions he has entered the Devizes to Westminster race.
And as he is set to turn 35 in the near future, a shot at the veteran title will soon be his next challenge. A win would make him the only person to complete the event and finish first in all three age groups, junior, senior and veteran.