New paddlers smash it at Calder marathon
Two of the newest recruits to the 4As travelled north to the Calder river, to take part in their first marathon, on Sunday. It’s a very friendly and welcoming crowd at Pennine Canoe Club, and they run a 2 mile marathon for beginners, lightnings, and especially for Paddle-Ability competitors.
Lewys Davies and Cassie Glaves both took part in the Paddle-Ability competition, having only started practicing the distance last week at training.
Cassie set off like a rocket and set a pace which kept Lewys working hard to match her for the first mile, but gradually Lewys caught up and eventually overtook her in the second half of the race. Lewys managed to overtake all the paddlers in the race that had started a minute before theirs, and Cassie all but one of them.
Lewys took the Gold spot in a time of 19:59, and Cassie the Silver medal in 20:53. Both made huge improvements on their practice times, Lewys over 3 minutes, and Cassie over 6!
They will both continue practicing over the summer so that they are ready for their first full marathon, of 4 miles, in the Autumn.