Team of British women break men’s record for World’s Toughest Row… despite capsizing three times
A TEAM of British women sunk the men’s record for the World’s Toughest Row yesterday despite capsizing three times.
Jess Goddard, Charlotte Irving and Taylor Winyard completed the 2,800 race from California to Hawaii in 38 days, one hour and 35 minutes.
It beat out the previous rowing record by a trio — which had been held by Luca Feser, Cutu Surreys and Matt Siely, who took 15 hours longer to complete the trip back in 2023.
Jess, Charlotte and Taylor also exceeded their personal target to reach the crossing in 40 days, which they undertook to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
Taylor, 31, opened up about the issues they faced as a group as they braved shark-infested waters.
She said: “We capsized three times, burnt through two auto-helms, but we got through.
READ MORE ON ROWING
“It’s a bit of a blur — I think I’ve blocked out a lot of it.”
Charlotte added: “The longest sleep we managed was two hours continuously.
“We were all absolutely exhausted, which made decision-making that much harder.
“The conditions were brutal. It did seem that anything that could go wrong did.
Most read in Other Sports
“We had broken oars and bad salt sores on our hands.”
“It was how we dealt with all those setbacks as a team that defined our end result.
“Our goal was to break the World Record and, incredibly, we did that.”