Jon Wight of GE Aviation and Luke Harding of Mercer, a financial services company, have completed the gruelling Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race, beginning on Saturday 19th April and ending on Sunday 20th for BLESMA – The Limbless Veterans, exceeding their fundraising target of £1,000 by nearly 50%.
The duo who became friends through their wives, set on raising funds for BLESMA after Jon heard about the charity through his work; GE Aviation in Cheltenham have a partnership with BLESMA that has seen GE staff volunteer at BLESMA’s Membership events and raise thousands of pounds.
Luke came on-board due to his military associations. He was a Sapper with 32 Royal Engineers and served in Iraq and Germany during his career.
Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race started in 1948 and has taken place every year since then. Through the 50s and 60s, the race was dominated by teams from the armed forces including Royal Marines, the Parachute Regiment and Special Forces before Richmond Canoe Club broke their supremacy in 1971.
Starting from Devizes in Wiltshire on Saturday 19 April at 7am, the pair paddled non-stop all the way to Westminster, supported by a crew that met them periodically with food and hot drinks. The team completed the 125 mile course in 28 hours and 23 minutes, arriving at Big Ben on Easter Sunday.
Out of the approximately 200 boats that started the race, over a quarter failed to finish because of the gruelling nature of the event.
Jon says: “This race has been linked with the armed forces for decades and with the work that GE Aviation have been doing with BLESMA during the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War and Luke’s Army past, it just felt right that we raised money for this incredibly impressive charity. Conditions during the race were not bad but we had to contend with 15mph head winds and temperatures as low as 3°C overnight. We fell in four times but the thought of empowering injured veterans kept us going through the cold and the wet!”
Annette Hall, Head of Fundraising at BLESMA says: “A fantastic effort by all involved in making sure the guys were supported along the way so they could complete this challenging event. A massive well done to Luke and Jon in raising vital funds for our wounded servicemen and women and thank you from everyone at BLESMA!