RECORDS were broken this weekend as canoeists Lizzie Broughton and Keith Moule were the first ever mixed senior team to win the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race, smashing the mixed team course record by almost an hour.

The pair, who are both GB marathon canoe team members, finished the course in 16 hours 40 minutes, 55 minutes quicker than the previous mixed course record of 17 hours 35 minutes.

Miss Broughton who has been training with teammate Mr Moule since the summer said she is very happy with the result.

She said: “It was a fantastic result and we achieved everything we had set out to do. The overall course record was never really in our sights but to win and be the first mixed team to do so feels amazing.”

Miss Broughton said the conditions were pretty neutral, with not much river flow, and the duo were able to hit the tide in Teddington at exactly the right time.

The pair finished one hour 20 minutes ahead of the team that came second, arriving at Westminster at about 7.40am yesterday morning.

She said: “We were able to get a good lead on them and managed to pull ahead by a few minutes each time we got to a checkpoint. This gave us a good cushion when we finally hit the Thames.”

The two celebrated the win at a pub last night with family and friends, and Miss Broughton said the next few days will be spent recovering.

She said: “I am pretty knackered right now and I am going to spend the next couple of days sleeping. After that we will organise a proper way to celebrate.”

TV presenter Steve Backshall and George Barnicoat completed the race in 23.17 – beating his previous attempt of 24 hours.

Backshall has raised more than £22,000 for the World Land Trust to save rainforest in Colombia. His fundraising page is at www.justgiving.com/steve-backshall/

To see all the race results go to www.dwrace.org.uk/results/2015/Results/OverallClassResults.html