After 48 days, 7 hours, and 3,000 miles, the rowing crew The Atlantic Polo Team crossed the finish line in the habour of Antigua. The four Brits, 38-year-old Henry Brett, 39-year-old James Glasson, 29-year-old Bobby Dundas (10th Viscount Melville) and 31-year-old Fergus Scholes, all polo players, thereby won the four class in the 2013 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, called the toughest rowing race in the world. They rowed to raise money for The Brooke, Hilton in the Community Foundation and Right to Play causes.
Henry Brett said, according to the Talisker’s website: ‘The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge is something we feel extremely privileged to have experienced, yet would not have wished upon our worst enemies – we have been through hell and back again out there.’
However, coming in as the first boat in the four class did not mean that the four polo players won overall; they came in second. The first boat to cross the finish line in this race was Locura Rows the Atlantic with the two Brits 53-year-old Mike Burton and 30-year-old Tom Salt, both experienced sailors. Their winning time was in 41 days, 2 hours, 38 minutes and 54 seconds. They raced to raise money for the Generous Hearts Foundation.
On the Talisker’s website Tom Salt commented on their win: ‘Mike and I are absolutely ecstatic to have won! We’re no strangers to extreme challenges, but this is definitely the hardest thing we’ve ever done and pushed us to new limits both physically and mentally. We will be celebrating this evening with our friends and family – and the burger we have been dreaming about since day one!’
Watch how Salt and Burton arrive to Antigua – and how they finally could have those burgers!
While writing this, late Tuesday evening, the third-placed boat in the race, the British crew Row2Recovery, has just yet crossed the finish line. Racing in this four were 27-year-old Cayle Royce, 27-year-old Scott Blaney, 34-year-old Mark Jenkins, 31-year-old James Kayll. Royce and Blaney were injured while serving in Afghanistan and Row2Recovery are rowing to raise money for three military charities, Help for Heroes, the Endeavour Fund and Row2Recovery.
Three crews, The Atlantic Polo Team, Row2Recovery and Atlantic Row 2013 (with Dan Howie and Will North), were even featured in the January 2014 issue of the glossy magazine Tatler.
Read more and get updates about the race and the teams here. HTBS congratulates all the crews for their brave effort to reach Antigua.
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