On the 8th June, three of my freestyle friends and I set off from Beeston Weir on an epic 24 hours paddling around the Trent Loop. This was all to raise money for three very worthy charities, British Heart Foundation, Olive Tree Hospice, and Watersafe UK Search and Rescue Team. Joining me was Sophie Macken, a 14 year old freestyle paddler, Becky Green, a freestyle world championship medallist, and Charlie Brackpool, a world renowned freestyle judge and paddler. All of us are teammates on the GB freestyle team, heading to the European Championships this summer.
The Trent Loop is a 15 km loop around Nottingham. Starting at Beeston Weir you head down the river Trent for 7 km to the Forest football ground. There you can hop onto the Nottingham & Beeston canal that takes you through the city centre for 8km, up to Beeston Lock. This is conveniently about 30m from the starting weir.
We all set off at 9am on Saturday morning, big smiles on our faces, excited for a spot of paddling. For Becky and Charlie this was actually their first Trent Loop, so lots of new things for them to see. We had our first couple of loops as a four which was really nice, we had a chance to catch up about their recent trips and life updates.
From then we kept getting joined by fresh faces, eager to share our journey with us and show their support along the way. It was great to have the boost of new people. It was a fresh conversation, injection of energy, and some fresh arms to help us maintain the pace.
A few laps in we were like a travelling karaoke troop, singing a wide range of songs as we paddled along, keeping morale high and distracting us from some tiring arms. Between songs were some creative questions to make us think. Some highlights include Sophie’s “If you were a Disney character who would you be?”, and Charlie’s “If you could have any animal as a pet what would it be?”. Incase you’re wondering it’s Maui and a snow leopard.
As the sun started to set we saw Nottingham in a different way. The nightlife started to kick off, including live music that we could see from the canal. Some merry pub-goers cheered us on as we went past, and friends popped up on the side to cheer us past. Then as we moved out of the city and into the outskirts the sky came to life. The dark surroundings meant the stars came to life. We spent a while paddling with our eyes up trying to figure out the constellations. We even spotted the Starlink satellites fly over, followed by a shooting star.
The hardest lap of all was the penultimate lap, as the sun came up. The temperature had dropped, the sky was getting light so the stars were gone, and the city was silent. We kept talking and singing to keep ourselves going. Taking it in turn to use each other’s wash to make the paddling easier too. We picked up Rob Crowe along the way who provided a morale boost too. Looking out for each other was key to us all making it through the lap and the rest of the challenge.
The final lap we were joined by the sun, which was great. Charlie was worried he was going to get sunburnt at 7am! Everyone was on autopilot, arms and paddles going through the motions moving us up to the top of the canal. As we ticked off the landmarks on route we knew we were getting closer and we all found that little bit of extra energy we needed.
Crossing the finish line as a four, with our friends and family cheering was amazing. Smiles appeared back on all our faces, and I popped a bottle of out of date bubbly. Once we had all got off the water a big hug was shared. Everyone had made it through the 24 hours and done an incredible job.
“I was thrilled to be invited on my first 24 hour challenge by James a few months ago. This event felt like there were definitely moments during the challenge I found extremely hard but overall I loved the way it ran and that I got to spend 24 hours with the best team. I’d say my favourite part would be the last lap because we had the amazing Rob Crowe join us and it finally felt like the end was in sight! Overall, I was so happy to be able to take part in this amazing challenge especially raising money for a charity so close to my heart. Thank you to everyone that made it happen, especially my incredible support crew.” – Sophie Macken
A huge thank you has to go to our dedicated support crew, Kerry, Aoife, Amanda, Dean, Karen and Nod who made the whole thing a lot more pleasant. Their cheering, food and drink prep, and checking in with us is hugely appreciated. A final thanks to everyone who came out and paddled with us and cheered from the side, we needed it!
If you want to donate you still can! Just follow the link below. All donations are greatly appreciated.