Devizes to Westminster for British Adventurer

wilts | sport | press release Tuesday April 07, 2009 11:07 by Dave Cornthwaite - The Great Big Paddle dave at davecornthwaite dot co dot uk www.thegreatbigpaddle.com 07872 986084

Wiltshire company supports Adventurer's water project

British man Dave Cornthwaite’s nose for adventure has led him to Wiltshire, and a whole new way of getting around. Graphic Designer Cornthwaite, 29, has made headlines in recent years for such acts as pushing a skateboard across Australia and attempting to date 100 women in 100 days, but he now has his eyes on a new adventurer project dubbed The Great Big Paddle.

British man Dave Cornthwaite’s nose for adventure has led him to Wiltshire, and a whole new way of getting around. Graphic Designer Cornthwaite, 29, has made headlines in recent years for such acts as pushing a skateboard across Australia and attempting to date 100 women in 100 days, but he now has his eyes on a new adventurer project dubbed The Great Big Paddle.

This weekend’s Devizes to Westminster kayak race is the first of a series of paddle challenges which Cornthwaite hopes to ultimately culminate in a record-breaking South American journey, from the source to the mouth of the Amazon.

But for someone whose watery aspirations are so high, he has barely any experience in a kayak. “I started paddling in late January this year,” says Cornthwaite, “and just a couple of capsizes later have come to feel almost at home in a small boat.”

Competitors for the gruelling Devizes to Westminster race are advised to start training in the September leading up to the Easter weekend event, but even four months off the pace Cornthwaite is confident that he’ll make it to the end,

“I’ve not given myself much time to prepare, but let’s face it, I don’t appear to usually take the easiest fork in the river,’” he said, “I’m realistic in that I won’t be able to compete at the front of the race this year but am hoping to clock a decent time and arrive in London safe and sound with full use of my hands.”

The adventurer’s early efforts in the sport have been given a helping hand by Trowbridge-based The Family Adventure Store, who have provided gear and arranged a kayak for Dave to train in. Managing Director, Jenny, said “When Dave first told us he intended to paddle the Amazon we were naturally sceptical, however his spirit of adventure fits with everything we believe in so we gave him our support. Having gotten to know him and seen his previous record-breaking exploits on film we have no doubt at all that he will make it.”

Dave says of his sponsors, “There’s a good chance I wouldn’t be competing for the DW if The Family Adventure Store hadn’t come on board. It makes a big difference having a few enthusiastic people behind you when you’re about to do something slightly crazy, and obviously they’ve loaned me a kayak so I won’t be swimming from Wiltshire to London over Easter.”

Following the Devizes to Westminster Cornthwaite will be back at his Bradford-on-Avon base, a narrowboat called Aslan, to step up training ahead of The Great Big Paddle’s next challenges. Later this year he plans to paddle the length of the Murray in Australia, along the way raising awareness about the environmental conditions that now threaten the river and its ecology. The Murray Paddle will be a warm-up for a slightly longer mission, with the Amazon beckoning in 2011.

So how does a Graphic Designer find himself taking on challenges that many people would never dream of? “It all started ten years ago when I found a taste for adventure on my Gap Year in East Africa, it produces a curiosity to see the world from a variety of perspectives and luckily I’ve one or two screws loose so don’t mind punishing myself a little bit!”

When he begins this weekend’s race it will be an ironic about-turn for Cornthwaite, the gap year company who gave him his first taste of adventure is Africa & Asia Venture, who just happen to be based in Devizes.

Follow Dave’s paddling exploits online at www.thegreatbigpaddle.com

- ENDS -

Notes for the editor:

Dave is available for interview on the following details:
Telephone: 07872 986084
Email: dave@davecornthwaite.co.uk

The Family Adventure Store are available for comment:
Telephone: 01225 768630
www.familyadventurestore.co.uk

Important Websites:
About the Great Big Paddle
www.thegreatbigpaddle.com

About Dave Cornthwaite
www.davecornthwaite.co.uk

About the Devizes to Westminster
www.dwrace.org.uk