Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race, live.

125 miles from Wiltshire to Westminster

The Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race takes paddlers 125 miles from the market town of Devizes to the heart of London over the Easter weekend.

DW has been paddled at Easter almost every year since 1948, when four Devizes scouts aged 17 first made the journey. The 2027 race runs from Good Friday 26 March to Easter Monday 29 March. The course follows the Kennet and Avon Canal to Reading, the River Thames down to Teddington and then the tidal Tideway into London, with 77 portages where crews carry their boats around locks.

There are two ways to do it. Senior Doubles race the whole 125 miles non-stop as a time trial, choosing a start time between 7am and 5pm on Easter Saturday so they reach Teddington when the tide window opens. The course record stands at 15 hours 19 minutes. The stage classes, Junior Doubles, Veteran and Junior, Endeavour, Senior Singles and stand-up paddle boards, cover the same water over four days: Devizes to Newbury, Newbury to Marlow, Marlow to Teddington and a final day into London.

The race suits paddlers who have trained through a whole winter. The organisers expect non-stop crews to be stable in their boat by September and to train on the water several times a week, and recommend at least six months of training for anyone. Bank-side support crews are allowed to hand over food and drink, which makes the support team as much a part of the race as the paddlers.

For spectators the portages along the canal are good places to watch, as crews jump out and run their boats around the locks. Over the Easter weekend the race moves from rural Wiltshire through the Thames valley towns to London, so it can be followed at many points along the way.

On Livebib you can follow a paddler live if they choose to share their own position from the phone they carry in the boat. That position comes from the paddler, not from the organiser's timing, and the official results are published by the organiser.