Kayak Nene 2010

Mick Child, Tom Fitzgerald, Michael Prosperino and Dan Jenkin took their tandem kayaks from Northampton to Peterborough over the weekend in support of Help for Heroes.
The four (pictured with H4H representative Rob Dixon) set off from Rush Mills lock, Northampton at 11:15pm on Friday night, battling through 5-miles of fog and a relentless head wind to complete the journey in 20 ½ hours. They arrived at Peterborough just after 7.45pm on Saturday evening completing 57.4 miles of River Nene navigation.
Mick Child paid tribute to the Help for Heroes charity which since its launch in October 2007 has raised over £54 million pounds, supporting our injured servicemen and women. Of his own challenge he pointed to a quotation from legendary American cyclist Lance Armstrong; ‘pain is temporary – quitting is forever’. Mick continued, “when the going got tough towards the end with our muscles burning and fatigue from lack of sleep affecting our performance, we jovially repeated this to each other and it pushed us on”.

The kayakers finished their sponsored paddle by completing the 1200 metre purpose built Peterborough City Rowing Club rowing course with over 100 supporters braving a cold to cheer them on. A well attended presentation was held at the Ramada Butterfly Hotel immediately after with the team presenting Rob Dixon from H4H with a cheque for £2,643.00.
   Mick said “we received so many messages of good luck for this event which has been just amazing and this cheque demonstrates the support and respect the British public has for our armed forces.”
   Looking forward to next year Mick is looking to organise a bigger event and raise even more money for Help for Heroes and other charities. This time it will be a little closer to home taking place on the Great Ouse and involving Viking Kayak Club who will be celebrating their 50th Anniversary. More details will be available on the Viking website later in the year.
   On Monday Mick, Michael and Dan returned to their day jobs working for Network Rail as Project Engineers at Kings Cross and Thameslink Programme, and for Tom it was business as usual in the Bedford Arms.
   Donations can still be made by linking to the JustGiving link on this website or in a collection pot at the Bedford Arms in Bromham Road, Bedford.