Girl overcomes headwinds in 75-mile kayak challenge

A GIRL from Sonning Common kayaked 75 miles down the River Thames against strong headwinds to raise £3,900 to fund a girlguiding trip to Canada.

Ellie Densham, 13, said she will donate £400 of additional funds to her former and current schools, Sonning Common primary and Maiden Erlegh Chiltern Edge.

She was joined for the challenge with her mum, Lauren, and for the final two days with her dad, Ben, as well.

Ellie was one of eight girls selected in April to represent the guides on a trip to Ontario in 2027.

On Wednesday last week, she and Mrs Densham embarked on a 75-mile kayaking challenge in Reading, with the goal of reaching the Thames Barrier on the final day on Saturday.

After being forced to turn around when the tide turned, they reached an exit point at the London Eye on Saturday, having reached their goal distance.

Ellie said: “I was really happy, I was just thinking that I’ve gone sometimes on 5km runs with my mum and thought that was a lot but I’ve just done 75 miles of kayaking.

“My Nanna and Poppa came to the end to cheer me along and helped us to get the boats up.

“Because our car was still at the site where we first entered the river, dad had to get a taxi to go and get it which took about two hours, so we were just sat in the middle of London with our kayaks.”

The challenge almost came to a halt on the second day, when Ellie and Mrs Densham faced their longest distance to reach the next checkpoint against strong headwinds.

They paddled for 11-and-a-half hours in persistent rain and reached the checkpoint at 8.30pm.

Ellie said: “It was just really hard and we didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. I didn’t give up, I just didn’t know how we were going to do it.

“It was raining most of the day. I felt really happy when we made it to the checkpoint that day because I knew I could just rest and calm down.”

Ellie said that during the difficult day, morale was boosted by a surprise visit from friends who had travelled to the river to support her.

She said: “We got about halfway through our paddling for the day and my mum said she had a surprise, so we were paddling quite quickly.

“We came around the bend and I saw our friend Naomi and her son Amos were waiting for us and they were cheering me along and they brought a little snack bag.

“That upped my game a little bit and made me a bit happier.”

The pair began the final day just before Teddington Lock, after which they entered the tidal section of the river.

At this point they were under a time pressure to complete the distance while the tide was headed in their direction of travel.

They stayed at a nearby hotel which allowed them to arrive at the river by 7am, when the tide changes, and at 7.24am the tide flowed in the correct direction.

Mrs Densham said: “We paddled solidly for five hours and just got as far as we could before the tide changed which turned out to be the London Eye.

“We had read a lot of stuff on the internet about around Westminster — there are high winds sometimes and it can be very choppy and, once the tide starts taking you can’t stop, and there are no exit points, you just have to keep going.

“The level of the Thames drops down so much, when you’re sat in a little kayak you can’t climb out so there is no way to get out except for some of the ramps — there were one or two and that was it.

“When we reached the London Eye, the only way we were able to get out at that point and commit to going that far was because we rang the authorities and asked if we were allowed to cross the river at Westminster.

“They said if we were very careful then we could. It’s like crossing a motorway, you wait for a gap in the boats and then just paddle really fast.

“It was quite windy and choppy, and that was probably the most dangerous part of the trip and then we paddled back up the river until we could find an exit point that we were then able to get out.”

Mrs Densham, a former outdoor instructor, said she was “proud” of her daughter’s perseverance in completing the challenge.

She said: “Ellie did amazingly well, she showed real resilience and determination.

“Ellie had a little bit of a wobble in the middle but she did amazingly well to continue and have that grit and resilience to keep pushing through, I was proud and really impressed.”