A TRIO of intrepid paddleboarders from Colchester glided their way from Hertfordshire to London in just 24 hours to raise money for two life-saving charities.

Colchester residents Hannah Johns, 39, and Sam Williams, 34, and Brightlingsea’s Nick Devenney, 39, rode their boards non-stop from Bishop’s Stortford to Paddington Basin in the capital, a distance of 46 miles.

The challenge was designed by Nick in 2019 as part of a bid to raise money for Motor Neurone Disease charity MND in honour of friend Oliver Joynson, who had been diagnosed with the condition.

Due to the effects of the Covid pandemic on training, the challenge had to be delayed.

Gazette:

Oliver sadly lost his life to Motor Neurone Disease in summer last year.

Determined to still do the challenge in memory of his friend, Nick signed up friends Hannah and Sam to join him along the marathon route.

The trio, who are members of East of England Paddlesports, set out at 10am on Saturday morning reaching their destination at 10am on Sunday.

Hannah said: “Me and Nick came together and I said I wanted to raise money for Mid and North East Essex Mind so we decided to do it jointly.

“We managed to rope Sam into it as well.

“We all know each other through paddleboarding.

“We have been paddleboarding in and around Essex together for a while.

“We wanted to do something for charity and they are charities which are close to our hearts.”

Gazette:

Whilst training for the event the team paddled distances of about ten miles, but the real thing was unlike anything they had ever attempted before.

The route took them from Bishop’s Stortford past Harlow and towards London past Ilford, a total of 46 miles, or about 70km.

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Hannah said: “We didn’t sleep at all and we only stopped once and had a bit of food then carried on.

“We paddled through the night and arrived in London, negotiating 43 locks along the way.

“It was quite difficult in the dark and the locks put extra strain on your body.

“I am 5ft 3ins and some of them meant there were 6ft drops in to the water.

“It was very hard work and I was a bit naive to how hard it would be.

“I just thought it would be fun to paddle 46 miles.

“I did not think it was too much of an issue and it wasn’t until I did a night paddle beforehand I realised how dark it was and how things like even going the right way can be difficult.”

Hannah added: “My fingers are blistered and the guys are the same.

“There a couple of times along the way we looked at each other in despair.

“But it is about picking each other up and getting things done, which we managed to do.”

The trio have so far raised more than £1,600, which will be split between both charities, whilst donations are still rolling in.

And Hannah said despite the difficulties, they hadn’t been put off attempting a similar, or more exhausting challenge, in the future.

“I would do it again in a heartbeat,” she said.

“I would probably want to do a bigger challenge next time to raise money for charity again, whether that is the same charities or others.

“We were all quite overwhelmed at the end of it.

“But the end result of raising more than £1,600 has been more than worth it.”

You can donate to the team’s appeal at www.justgiving.com/team/SUPCHALLENGE24EOEP.