It was the second ever edition of the Thames 200 Ultra, where paddlers race the entire 200 km length of the navigable, non-tidal Thames River from Lechlade to Teddington. Last year, the first SUP finisher set a new world record: Fastest SUP of the Thames in 29 hours, 19 minutes, and 50 seconds. That was Gavin Symonds, who had spent almost the entire race paddling next to Chris Davison before making his break at the final checkpoint.

This year, Chris returned to improve on his 2nd place finish. His new competition flew in from Switzerland: Kevin Kohn, multiple finisher of one of the biggest SUP ultras in the world, the SUP 11 City Tour. Alongside Chris and Kevin at the start: Adrian Angell, who’s SUP’ed the English Channel and paddleboarded 220 miles across England; and Jonny Hebert, an experienced SUP racer in shorter distances with a very personal motivation for taking on this ultra race.

The four paddlers left Lechlade-upon-Thames at 10 AM on Saturday morning with 200 kilometres and 44 locks ahead of them. Chris was a clear favourite: the only one who’d already completed the course before, and a strong ultra paddler who just a few weeks prior had nearly made it to the final round of The Eliminator. But Kevin was speedy, so speedy that Chris soon realised Kevin was actually faster than him on the water. Chris said: “He was faster on the water, but I was catching him on the portages because I was running them. Then I noticed about portage 6, he started running them.” They leapfrogged down the course.

By Checkpoint #2 in Abingdon, about 64 km down the course, Chris had earned separation. He arrived at 6:23 pm, more than eight hours of paddling and portaging since the 10 am start. Whilst paddlers, volunteers, and the live stream crew alike were thrilled that 2025’s race day hadn’t featured the sudden rainstorms of 2024, the temperatures were warm and muggy. It was so hot that Chris had managed to run out of water between checkpoints, saying “I never run out of water!” As he refueled in Abingdon, he kept a close eye on how much time was passing. Less than thirty minutes later, he set off again. Knowing Kevin was close, Chris didn’t want to grant him the motivational boost that comes with seeing your rival right in front of you, close enough to chase down.

Kevin passed through next, just minutes after Chris had left. Then Jonny and Adrian. All four racers looked solid heading into sunset and a moonless night.

As the night brought peaceful darkness and cooler temperatures, it also triggered the first retirement. Jonny Hebert made it to the 100 km halfway point around 4 am, and his body failed him. Reflecting after the race, he described it as a roller coaster, but said “I did finally break the 100km and paddled further than I have ever done before, so we take the little wins.”

The sun rose just past 6 am, and three paddlers remained. But as the clock ticked on and the racers pushed through fatigue, muscle pain, and blisters… One more paddler would retire on Sunday morning.

Watch the short version of the full story to see what it was like for these intrepid SUP racers who took on 200km last weekend:

Special thanks to Craig Sawyer “The SUP Coach” who not only supported the racers with board loans and nutrition, but also contributed to the live stream commentary and filming. If you enjoyed this video, go check out his documentary about the Yukon 1000: “Push Past Impossible“. Paddler Media’s coverage of the Thames 200 Ultra was made possible by the Thames 200 Ultra. Registrations for 2026 will open soon — pencil it in for the August Bank Holiday weekend again. Rumours are already circulating that a 2026 SUP relay team is in the works… Contact Craig to make the rumours reality…