Oarsome Foursome Smash Record For Atlantic Row in £250k Fundraiser

Four oarsmen set a new world record by rowing 3,000 miles in 29 days in memory of a mental health campaigner

George Biggar was joined by Dicky Taylor, Peter Robinson and Stuart Watts, as they spent 29 days and 15 hours at sea, rowing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. It took them from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean.

The quartet raised the cash for mental health charity Mind in memory of Mr Biggar’s mother, Anne Fisher, who drowned at the age of 56 in the sea near the family’s Lake District home, in January 2011.

Ms Fisher endured a lifelong battle with mental illness, and was a solicitor who retrained as a mental health and addiction counsellor. She also became a trustee for her local Mind branch.

The £250,000 raised will be split between Mind and Spinal Research.Speaking to News and Star after completing the row, an exhausted Mr Biggar, 32, said: “It’s amazing to complete the row.

“We set out with it as a charity initiative for two charities. For me personally, the Mind element is commemorative for mum, who struggled with mental illness through her life.

“I always felt a need and desire to do something to commemorate mum, and to bring that to fruition and to complete it – to do it such justice in such style with such great support, is amazing.”

Dubbed “the world’s toughest row”, the challenge was expected to take the oarsmen 40 days to complete, but they arrived 11 days ahead of schedule.In the process, they shattered the previous record set by Latitude 35, who rowed the same distance in 35 days.