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Mark Agnew

Three rugby players from Hong Kong are about to depart on the adventure of a lifetime.
Rob Lennox, Martin Muller and Matthew Bell are taking part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a 5,000km unsupported row from La Gomera, in the Canary Islands, to Antigua, starting on Sunday.
The trio will row in shifts – two hours on, two hours off – all day and all night for more than a month. They will carry all their own food and produce drinking water using a solar-powered desalination unit.
Lennox, Muller and Bell will sleep on the boat and have no support. It is going to be a gruelling journey that pushes their limits, but the journey to the start line has already been full of ups and downs.

The team, called Cathay Pacific Cargo East Rows West, started as a foursome, but one of their number was forced to drop out.
“It’s a shame,” Bell said. “There’s so much blood, sweat and tears into planning and executing this. It made it all the more sad two days later when we made our way down to the boat for the first time.”
Rugby players turn to ‘completely insane’ Atlantic rowing adventure
All three rowers are open about their desire to win the race, but now a man short they are realistic about their chances and the knowledge that many factors are out of their control.
They briefly searched for a replacement. However, the three men know each other so well from playing rugby at Valley RFC they decided not to add an unknown into their midst. Plus, there were the practicalities of limited time to obtain the necessary qualifications for a newcomer.
“It has not changed our goals too much. We have been clear that we want to be competitive, but as a four that is a lot easier to do,” Bell said.

“There will come a time when we have to row with just one person on the oars and that’s where we’ll lose out. If we have a chance to win it, we would have like to go for it but now it’s just a case of doing as much as we can to put ourselves in the right position.”
Landing sponsors was another challenge and it was touch and go until JP Morgan and Cathay Pacific agreed to support them.
Just arriving in La Gomera and meeting the other teams has served to change their mindset and motivation.




















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A post shared by East Rows West (@eastrowswest)



“We have a competitive edge, but that dulls a bit when you meet everyone else,” Bell said. “You kind of realise along the road to get here, and the ups and downs, hearing everyone else’s ups and downs, you understand when you get here that there is so much out of your control like weather, routing and other stuff. Now as a three, there’s even more out of our control.”
Training in Hong Kong has given them a new perspective too. “You just realise the extent of the coast line, the amount of little bays and inlets. The size of it. We paddled all the way up to Mirs Bay, it took us hours and hours to get around Mirs Bay,” Bell said.
“Hong Kong is a spectacular place, and viewed from the silence of the water, 20 miles offshore, it’s incredible. Some of the sunsets and sunrises we saw were incredible.”
From calamity to contentment and emptiness on the Atlantic
They hope to have a similar epiphany of the beauty around them when they cast off for real. “Being in La Gomera has slowed us down a lot. We still want to go and do our best but we realise this is going to be an amazing journey. We are just looking forward to just being out there,” Bell said.
“Flying in to La Gomera we looked out the window and realised there is nothing and nothing and nothing. We are looking forward to being out there, alone and resetting.”
One sad aspect of their training was coming across the plastic floating on the waters around Hong Kong. “You know it’s prevalent in Hong Kong but it’s never been that visceral. There wasn’t a moment that went by where there wasn’t a tin can or plastic bag floating by and that hit me.”
All-female quartet out to become China’s first team to row the Atlantic
Three people crammed into a small boat in the middle of the ocean is as mentally challenging as it is physical. They have drawn on Lennox’s experience in the British Army to create good habits, and have also spoken to a therapist for frameworks on communication.
“One of the good things about the three of us is we are pretty open with each other. We have to be. Our communication has been pretty good. We have adopted a strategy of calling out if we see something that doesn’t fit and there is a mutual understanding that there is no malice,” Bell said.
“It’s a strength that we are relatively Type A, and bull headed. But you can see the potential issues there. Maybe we are too gung ho and sometimes we’ll need to step back and work smart not hard. That is probably something that we need to work on.”
The team passed their safety inspection and began packing their boat one final time before it went in the water. “We are now packing all our food away for the first time and realising that it is all that is keeping us alive for the next month or two. This is really, really happening. It is surreal,” Bell added.


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Extreme fitness

Rowing the Atlantic: Valley rugby players balance competitive drive with savouring their ocean journey of a lifetime

(From Left) Martin Muller, Rob Lennox and Matthew Bell prepare to row the Atlantic. Photo: Handout

(From left) Rob Lennox, Matthew Bell and Martin Muller are rowing the Atlantic. Photo: Handout

(L to R) Martin Muller, Robert Lennox and Matthew Bell, pose at Happy Valley, where they play rugby together. Photo: SCMP / Edmond So

Rowing the Atlantic is a ‘completely insane’ adventure for Hong Kong rugby players searching for focus

Rowing across the Atlantic is a ‘completely insane’ adventure that comes at the right time for four rugby players. Photo: Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

Valley second rower Martin Muller carries.

(L to R)Rugby players Grant Kemp, Martin Muller, Robert Lennox and Matthew Bell, pose for a picture at Happy Valley sports pitches. Four Valley Rugby players will row the Atlantic in December 2021. 04MAR21 SCMP / Edmond So

Natixis HKFC vs Societe Generale Valley during round 12 of rugbypass.com Premiership league 2016-2017 at Hong Kong Football Club, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong on 14 January 2017, Hong Kong, China. Picture shows Valley prop Grant Kemp protecting the ball during his side's win over HKFC in the Hong Kong Premiership. Photo by : Ike Li / ikeimages

Valley captain Rob Lennox with another bruising run. Photo: HKRU

Rowing across the Atlantic from calamity to contentment and emptiness, five years after being rescued

Ted Jackson (standing, second from right) goes from calamity to contentment crossing the Atlantic. Photo: Rannoch Adventure

George Ardavanis rows across the Atlantic. Photo: Handout

Mark Agnew setting off to row the Atlantic in 2018. Photo: Atlantic Campaigns

Ted Jackson rows the Atlantic. Photo: Rannoch Adventure

Northwest Passage route, rowing 2022. Photo: George Hopkins

Female Chinese quartet defy traditional expectations and set out to row the Atlantic in Li Ka-shing’s Talikser Whisky Atlantic Challenge team

Sarah Meng Yajie (left), Amber Li Xiaobing, Cloris Chen Yuli and Tina Liang Mintian hope to become the first Chinese team to row the Atlantic. Photos: Handout

Four girls part of the Kung Fu Cha Cha ocean rowing team will be the first Chinese team to try and row the Atlantic.

Sport

Outdoor

Extreme Sports


Three Hong Kong rugby players are taking part in the Atlantic challenge, a 5,000km row from La Gomera to Antigua
The Valley trio are taking part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, which starts on Sunday



Three Hong Kong rugby players are taking part in the Atlantic challenge, a 5,000km row from La Gomera to Antigua.


Water sports