Tom Biggins joined a team of top Shropshire Tories who took to the water in the Coracle Relay World Championship in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support on June 6th.
The Tory team comprised three Shropshire MPs - Philip Dunne MP (Ludlow), Daniel Kawczynski MP (Shrewsbury & Atcham), Owen Paterson MP (North Shropshire) - and Telford parliamentary candidate, Tom Biggins. Together they took part in one of eight heats involving six coracles in a relay race, each paddling back and forth across the River Severn from the Pengwern Boathouse in Shrewsbury.
Philip Dunne organised the team on behalf of Shropshire Macmillan and managed to raise a tidy sum for Shropshire Macmillan.
"It was a lot of fun and we were definitely a beginners team,” explained Philip. “The only training session we had was a team talk in the voting lobby of the House of Commons earlier in the week. It was big on motivation, but a bit short on technique. So I was not betting my T-shirt on us making the final, not least since one member of the squad had a meeting to get to on the same evening.”
Daniel Kawczynski MP added: "I was looking forward to raising money for this important charity, as well as having some fun with my Parliamentary colleagues along the way."
Owen Paterson MP said: "I congratulate Philip on building up tremendous team spirit and would like to thank my generous North Shropshire sponsors, led by Billy Griffiths."
Tom Biggins was delighted to support the very worthy cause of Macmillan Cancer Support, whose nurses do very valuable work throughout Shropshire.
“My technique was to paddle like mad, at the same time as trying to stop myself from capsizing,” said Tom. “Some of the competitors made coracle racing look easy. I can assure you that it is anything but easy, as the coracle is extremely unstable. However, more by luck than judgement, I did manage to avoid taking a soaking.
“I enjoyed the whole event tremendously and I would like to thank the many people who sponsored me for their kind generosity.”
