Team Excelsioar - 2023 Finish Video | World's Toughest Row - Atlantic

💥RACE FINISH💥
Team Excelsioar🇬🇧
On Sunday 11th February at 18:17 local time, Caroline Hague, Rachel Smillie and Nicki Kelly onboard their boat “Dolly Parton” crossed the finish line of the World’s Toughest Row in a time of 60 days, 13 hours and 32 minutes arriving as this years 29th boat. Family and friends got exactly what they came for at the dockyard! Flares were held up high by the team and the ever celebratory loud roar sounded from the fort, making it the perfect finish to a beautifully sunny Sunday in Antigua☀️
All being members of the Eton Excelsior rowing club, the ladies have trained together on the water between Maidenhead and Windsor, where they have pushed themselves to the limit on many occasions, but we are pretty sure those limits were pushed even further during this crossing! From early on in the race the team struggled to push south and got a bit stuck up north creating quite some frustration onboard. However, there was no giving up on this boat, as from the start there has only been one option - to get to Antigua! 🇦🇬
When asked what they learned about the Atlantic, Rachel said, “I was surprised how quickly it can change. We could be in flat calm water, like a glassy lake at 8am in the morning and by 9am we would be looking up at waves that we couldn’t understand the physics of how we were still on top of them”. Caroline added, “There were so many different states it could be in. It can be calm, it can be wavy. The changes are subtle and I didn’t even realise it had changed.” Finally Nicky added,”You look out to infinity and you think how amazing is that?! We’ve got all this for ourselves! It’s just magical!” And so was your arrival ladies👏🏼