Friends who’d never rowed before smash Atlantic record
TWo British women with no previous rowing experience have broken the world record for the fastest female pair to cross the Atlantic.
Jessica oliver, 29, and Charlotte Harris, 30, cruised 3,000 miles to victory in the challenge ahead of 35 other teams from all over the world.
The friends battled 30ft waves, sleep deprivation, hallucinations, blisters, sharks, capsizing and even a midocean collision in their boat Cosimo.
They finished five days ahead of their nearest rivals in the pairs category of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge when they reached Antigua on January 26. They also wiped the same number of days off the previous female pairs’ world record in a time of 45 days, seven hours and 25 minutes.
‘It was the most emotional, overwhelming experience ever. I’m still in shock,’ said Miss oliver from Dowdeswell, Gloucestershire.
‘We threw the oars down, jumped up and down and gave each other the biggest hug and fell over.’ The sales consultant and Miss Harris, a procurement manager, who met at Cardiff University a decade ago, signed up to row across the Atlantic as their ‘next challenge’.
Between them they had previously completed marathons, triathlons and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Neither had ever rowed professionally before and they had to undertake a two-year training regime to take part. The race started from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on December 12.
‘We’re amazed we even completed the challenge, let alone set a record,’ said Miss Harris, who lives in Hampshire and is originally from Ireland.
They rowed two hours on and two hours off, day and night. ‘We saw sharks, our steering broke and our water maker broke – everything was thrown at us but we got on with it and just got through it’, Miss Harris said.
Miss oliver’s mother, Germaine Hitchins, also from Gloucestershire, said: ‘It’s a phenomenal thing they’ve done. But if anyone was going to do it, it was these two.’
The pair have so far raised almost £43,000 of their £100,000 target for charities Shelter and Women’s Aid.
‘Emotional and overwhelming’