This weekend a few of the JK Team took part in the Odiham Raft Race, which took place just down the road from Just Kampers HQ.
While many of us were celebrating JK’s 35th birthday on Sunday 1 September, a handful of the JK Team were putting the finishing touches to the raft they’d built, and getting ready to row it two whole miles along the Basingstoke Canal.
After being a bit unsure of how seaworthy their raft was, Al, Amber, Monika, Sarah, and Tim not only finished the Odiham Raft Race, but came 6th out of 12 teams and won an award for the best-looking raft!
The raft itself was built out of recycled materials that they found in our warehouse and assembled in the yard outside. They added the cool Beetle Cabriolet side panels, finished in JK orange, to help the raft stand out and offer a bit of protection against getting soaking wet.
Although Al played a big part in designing and building the raft, when it came time to actually lower it into the canal Al and the team realised that since he was far taller than the others he was in danger of making the whole raft unsteady and sinking them into the Basingstoke Canal.
Al agreed to switch from crew to cheerleader, and left Amber, Monika, Sarah, and Tim with the job of rowing the makeshift raft up the canal for about 1,200 metres, before carefully turning around and rowing back to the start/finish line. In total, the JK Team rowed about 1.5 miles or 2.4 kilometers, though Sarah said it felt more like 10 miles!
The whole team are really pleased with how they did, with Amber saying that coming 6th out of a dozen teams was ‘great for a first attempt’ – possibly hinting at an entry to the 2025 Odiham Raft Race!
Al was able to rejoin the crew on the raft when it came time for the raft vs raft tug-of-war, which also saw Jake from the JK Team hop aboard to take part, but by then the others were absolutely shattered and failed the tug-of-war at the first attempt.
