Our staff recently entered the River Dart struggle organised by the Totnes Rotary Club.
This annual event, is the second time we have entered a raft and after learning from last years attempt, we had some good expectations for this year. It takes place along the river Dart starting at Dart Bridge, Buckfastleigh, and on through a mixture of white water, fast flowing weirs and calm stretches, and makes its way down to the finish in Totnes, a distance of some 14 Kms. This is acknowledged as one of the great river challenges and last year, 2013, saw 204 paddlers participating.
On the day of the struggle this year, before setting off, there was a hard ground frost (typically the first of the winter) and was quite a relief to get into the water and thaw our feet. The water level was extremely low and as a result the raft was carried, pulled and pushed down the first half of the course instead of sailed!!
At the end of the race at Totnes, our team of eight finished in a respectful 7th position out of 40 rafts with a time of 4 hrs 32 mins. With “design modifications” due on the raft in time for next year…… hopefully this will be improved upon!!!
The most important thing was that we raised over £500 for the Rotary Club charities.
