Devizes to Westminster canoe raceEvery year canoeists converge on Devizes for the sport's most demanding test the gruelling 125-mile Devizes to Westminster canoe race

IN 1948 a group of Devizes Scouts set off in their home-made canoes to paddle from their home town to Westminster Bridge, a distance of 125 miles.

It was the start of one of the world's most challenging sporting events, but one which you may be forgiven for never having heard of, the Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race.

Although it has been run every year since, apart from 2000 when it had to be abandoned because of weather conditions and 2001, when the foot-and-mouth epidemic put the canal towpath out of bounds, it rarely catches the attention of the news media.

But this does not cancel out its appeal to people from all over the world who love a challenge. Senior crews paddle throughout the night to reach Westminster and the record, set amid freak tidal conditions in 1979, stands at 15 hours 34 minutes and 12 seconds.

And it is by no means quietly paddling along a calm and unruffled waterway. There are many locks, weirs and bridges along the route where it is necessary to "portage", drag your boat out of the water and carry it round the obstacle.

At Reading the canal meets the River Thames and it is the aim of every serious contender for a place to catch the tide so that it carries you downriver and does not impede your progress.

Some 200 entrants of all ages and abilities take on the DW challenge every year. As well as the senior classes, there are those for juniors who are obliged to break off their journey and camp overnight at special camp sites along the way.

The overnight breaks are taken by adults competing in the "endeavour" class, people, sometimes parents of the junior crews, who are attracted by the prospect of competing but are perhaps not fit enough to do the 125 miles "in a oner".

Although the first modern event was in 1948, when competitors had to portage round whole stretches of dry canal bed as well as haul canoes through thick reed beds, the origins go back further.

In fact, in 1920 some drinkers in the Greyhound pub in Pewsey were discussing the transport strike of the time and looking at other forms of getting about the country. Arising from this discussion, a group of friends bet they could travel by the River Avon from Pewsey to the sea at Mudeford, near Christchurch, in less than three days. Using a 26ft double sculling skiff they won their bet with 12 hours to spare. The historic trip was repeated in 1947 and one of those who took part, Roy Cooke, planned a similar trip from Devizes to Westminster the following year.

He dropped out but the Scouts, led by Scoutmaster Ollie Brown, took up the challenge and succeeded in under 80 hours.