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Bristol Uni students breaking records
Three University of Bristol students have smashed three separate records for rowing across the Atlantic.
Best friends Freddie Wright Jack Galsworthy (pictured top left), both aged 21, have become the youngest pair to make the crossing, while fellow student Callum Gathercole (pictured top right), aged 20, has become the youngest individual to row across an Atlantic.
And that’s not all. Gathercole has also been entered into the history books for setting a new under-19s lightweight world record of completing a 100,000-metre stretch in just under seven hours.
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Together the three students, who were racing as part of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, have raised £270,000 for a range of charities.
Gathercole’s journey, which started in the Canary Islands, included a total of 58 days at sea rowing over 3,000 nautical miles. Wright and Galsworthy were at sea for over 47 days until they crossed the finish line in Antigua.
All three rowers tackled tropical storms, sleep deprivation, 40ft waves, sea sickness and severe body sores. But Freddie and Jack said they were also able to swim with whales and were led out of a storm by dolphins.
For Gathercole, who is taking a year out of his Aerospace Engineering degree, the trek was a chance to raise £230,000 in memory of his late father, who died in 2012 of a brain tumour.
He said: “This is certainly the toughest thing I have done in my life, but I’m proud to have supported these great charities and hope it will make a difference to people’s lives and to their families.”
Galsworth and Wright raised £40,000 for the Brain Research Trust. Second year Mechanical Engineering student Wright said: “We’ve had such an amazing time. We’re proud of the record, but it wasn’t what we set out to do – it’s really just a bonus on top of what has been an awesome experience. We would definitely do this again.”
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