to those that reached this point and certificates issued marked "shortened course". This decision didn't impact the non-stop race, which had already finished on Easter Sunday. In 2018 heavy rainfall prior to the Easter weekend and throughout Good Friday once again brought the River Thames up to flood levels with fast flowing water. The race committee initially made a decision that no night-time paddling should occur on the Thames, but with conditions worsening then decided that all classes would finish at Reading (Wokingham Canoe Club at Dreadnaught Reach). No finishers medals were issued and certificates were marked with "shortened course". In 2020 & 2021 the event was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022 the event was shortened to 108 miles and finished at Teddington. This was due to the grounds of St Thomas' Hospital being unavailable due to the vaccination station there. Course records The current (non-stop) course record stands at 15 hours 34 minutes and was set in 1979 by Brian Greenham and Tim Cornish, one from Richmond Canoe Club and one from Reading Canoe Club. For the staged events; the solo record was set in 1993 by G Butler of Nottingham Kayak Club in a time of 14 hours 46 minutes. The junior record was also set in 1993 by the Richmond / Royal pairing of Steve Jensen and Tony Richardson in the phenomenal time of 14 hours 13 minutes, faster than the senior record, but then they did have three nights sleep on the way down! Baker/Capps 2000. Steve Baker recorded the closest time to the Greenham/Cornish record ( by 3mins in 1998). Easter 2000 with a late Easter bringing mild conditions and heavy rainfall filling the River Thames up to flood levels Baker & Capps were optimistic a record was on. The crew set off from Devizes at 0551hrs on Easter Saturday morning for a daylight run to catch the evening tide (slower crews started on Good Friday and paddle through the night to finish on Saturday mornings’ tide) with a schedule set for 15hrs 30mins. Made good time on the first 14 ‘portage free’ miles and were on schedule when they arrived at Froxfield Lock 3hrs into the race. At this point they were told by their support crew that the race organisers had decided to abandon the event following a safety incident at Old Windsor weir the previous night. The support crew