DETERMINED Worcester paddler Stuart West battled through sub zero temperatures and biting winds to win the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Marathon.

The 42-year-old, and team-mate Daniel Seaford, from Reading Canoe Club, completed the gruelling 125-mile course in 16 hours 44 minutes and 23 seconds to claim gold in the senior doubles.

Known as the Canoeing Everest, the event saw 160 teams tackle the non-stop course from Devizes in Wiltshire to London’s Westminster Bridge.

Paddling day and night, teams also had to get out of their boat and run round 77 locks along the way but temperatures as low as -4C forced 57 crews to retire.

West and Seaford kept going but the elements on the River Avon and River Thames certainly took their toll on the former Worcester Canoe Club chairman.

“I still can’t feel my left hand because it was so cold, it’s still numb,” West said.

“I was really delirious at the end and had to be lifted out of the boat and helped up the steps.

“I have done the race before but it wasn’t as hard as this year because it was just so cold with a head wind all the way. It was a very hard race.

“The last time I did it I was second by 45 seconds so to win it by half-an-hour was very satisfying.

“It was a very competitive year so it was great to win against so many people that could have won.”

West, who won the singles version of the event over four days in 2011, added: “It’s a sense of being able to actually push yourself for that long and just keep going to control your mind in terms of wanting to give up.

“There were many times when I thought I couldn’t carry on but you have to push that to the back of your mind and keep going.”