Four months of rowing later

Evans and Andrews overall winners

The 2005 Atlantic Rowing Race will be remembered for being one of the most treacherous crossings since the race began. Boats faced two tropical storms and a hurricane. Six boats had to abandon the race due to capsizing and damage including the Irish crew of rowing Olympian Gearoid Towey and partner Ciaran Lewis.

The race will be remembered for the celebrity duo of BBC presenter Ben Fogle and Olympic rower James Cracknell crossing the line as the first double.

It will be remembered for the fastest crew, All Relative, finishing in just 39 days and also remembered for solo rower Roz Savage coming in after 103 days.

It will further be remembered for the overalls winners, Clint Evans and Chris Andrews of Great Britain, who had to wait for the final boat to cross the line and race penalties to be added up before they could claim first place.

Evans and Andrews, both 44, are former rowing representatives for Great Britain and still actively compete at masters rowing events. Andrews attributed the duo’s 30 years each of rowing to their success.

?Undoubtedly the years in the boat have given us core and underlying strength in the general muscle groups that we were using in the race – the rowing motion is vaguely similar when the water is calm – but the water was rarely calm and the other motions were so totally different as a result.?

?3000 miles of square blade paddling was unique to my experience as a rower and sculling with no (handle) overlap also unique as well as rowing where the water would be there one minute and then totally disappear. This was unlike water I have been on before and it demanded a lot of core stability.?

No overlap for Andrews

The duo’s drive to get to the finish was inspired by their competitive spirit and the desire to get back on land as soon as possible, ?so that the pain would be over.? 

?As competitive rowers, we were always looking at the positions of the crews around us – to see if we were closing on the crews ahead of us and/or moving away from the crews behind us. We had twice daily reports on our position, which kept us focused,? says Andrews.

Andrews says the hardest part was the discomfort. ?Continuing when the fatigue and pain made it almost unbearable to do anything. Sitting down was excruciating (the bum suffered a lot!), and sleep deprivation meant that rest was the predominant thought.?

Neither Evans nor Andrews have not been back in a boat since the race, but Andrews says he’ll row again later in the summer, ?when the enthusiasm levels have returned and the energy levels have increased.?

Andrews admits he is not feeling particularly fit. ?Oddly the nature of the row was such that there was considerable muscle wastage.?

But watch out at the next FISA Masters Worlds, Andrews have vowed to be back, and back to win!

Final results
First – Clint Evans & Chris Andrews (GBR) (Woodvale Pairs)
Second – George Simpson, David Martin, Glynn Coupland & Neil Wightwick (GBR) (ORS Fours)
Third – Justin Adkin, Martin Adkin, Robert Adkin & James Green (GBR) (ORS Fours)
Fourth – Ben Fogle & James Cracknell (GBR) (Woodvale Pairs)

Related links 
First to finish and first to capsize
Cracknell takes the lead
Success for Cracknell

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