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Bay Area women win 3,000-mile rowing race
Four women, including three from the Tampa Bay area, won a rowing race that spanned 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.
TAMPA, Fla. - USF Professor Chantale Begin is 43 years old with a husband, two small children, and a love of the ocean.
That love sent her on a high-seas adventure in a row boat. The broken oar she shows us is just part of the exciting story she returned with.
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"With some tough weather and equipment failures, it just felt a bit overwhelming," says Begin. "The only thing to do really is to stay rational."
Photo courtesy: World's Toughest Row
She and her team members did manage to stay rational, but they did it while they rowed and rowed and rowed. They rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to Antigua. It was a race called the World’s Toughest Row.
Their vessel was a 28-foot rowboat. They rowed day and night for 38 straight days. At times, the seas were wild.
USF Professor Chantale Begin
"The wave was so steep that the whole stern came out including the rudder," she said. "It was about to pitchpole, and that would have been super dangerous."
The four women trained in the Tampa Bay Area. They called their team Salty Science. All the team members are marine biologists. Three have ties to USF, the fourth is from a Canadian university.
They did it for the physical and mental challenges and to see all the ocean had to offer.
Photo courtesy: World's Toughest Row
Two team members rowed for up to three hours straight while the other two slept and ate. The boat had two small sleeping compartments and no bathroom.
"There was no privacy. Privacy is overrated as far as rowing is concerned," said Begin while laughing.
But, they never stopped until they reached the finish line. They crossed it before any other women’s team, claiming the championship trophy and hugging family members.
Photo courtesy: World's Toughest Row
Team members lost from 14 to 18 pounds each, but Begin says they raised $260 thousand for three different ocean conservation organizations.
When will they row again? Begin says her practice rowboat is going to stay dry for a while.
"I’ll be spending time with my family," she smiles. After all, she spent Christmas, New Years, and her daughter’s ninth birthday at sea.
Begin says one of the main goals was for the four women to stay friends after spending such stressful times in such close quarters. She says they succeeded, and the championship trophy is ‘like a cherry on top.’
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