Man I love that tagline! It sounds both ridiculous and empowering at the same time. Being blonde has always been associated with being ditzy but I know that both ‘chicks’ in this boat are highly successful, strong and driven ladies! And I am not afraid to say that about myself – I mean, I wouldn’t be doing these challenges if I wasn’t, so I’m taking a little chunk of credit there.

However, that’s not to say we are expert paddlers – far from it! We undertook our first DW (Devizes to Westminster canoe race) joint training session this weekend with a family friend who offered to coach us (my not creepy ‘Uncle’ Paul) – love you! He had loads of great tips and recommendations to pass on and plenty of horror stories from his successful (and unsuccessful) attempts at DW.  It was also a bit of a reality check. Yet again I have a long way to go to get the equipment just right; everything from fitting our water bottles, adding foam pads to the boat for shoulder carrying, and figuring out the best way to stay dry and carry emergency snacks.  We also decided quite quickly that, although the boat we have is great (and free!) it’s a heavy tub, and there is a surprising amount of running involved in this canoe race! We both have good power to weight ratio, but we are light and slim so, for us to have a fair shot at a good time, we need a lighter boat… offers of K2s very welcome!

Claire and I were also hilariously and unfailingly polite to each other (mainly Claire when I was messing up the rudder control), so it will be interesting to see if we can maintain that in the middle of the night when I am steering us into weirs and river weeds! I’d like to think that’s why we will make a good pair though; we have both always wanted to do this, neither of us are in it to win (but would like to complete it without breaking) and we both know that we will need to push/ commit to each other to make this work. I am looking forward to being able to act as one mind when we are humping and dumping the boat in and out of locks….

This is definitely going to be tough, hence why we knuckled down in the pub after to commit to training weekends in the coming months (in between career courses, weddings and my other 12/12 challenges!). On top of that we both know that we need to up our shoulder game in the gym (hench is attractive right?), start memorising the route and be on the lookout for volunteer support crew…. 

On that note, we are genuinely after a fit, and fun support crew! It’s a 30-hour job over Easter Saturday shoving food into us on the move and maintaining our morale as we portage again, and again, and again. But we promise to make it worth your while (I mean a slap-up pub lunch at least!). Otherwise, Claire’s husband is going to be carrying a LOT of snacks…

This is what it is all about though, committing to crazy (and incredibly hard) challenges. As stand-alone events these are hard enough to train for and complete, but combine that with the training load of all the other events and it can feel a little overwhelming. 

But then I remember that I am doing this for a good cause. That my relative ‘hardship’ during this 12/12 challenge is nothing compared to the hardship faced by many Veterans of the Armed Forces. Whether it is a physical issue, livelihood issue, or mental health issue, they have more than earned the support that the Veterans Foundation can facilitate. And YOU can help the VF do this (insert giant finger pointing at you).

Joking aside, the main aim of this is to raise funds for the charities that the Veterans Foundation supports, you can donate here (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jennevolve1212) and find out more about the charities here (https://www.veteransfoundation.org.uk/who-we-help/)