Rowing the Atlantic in 37 days creates lasting bond for Hong Kong trio – ‘no one can take away what we went through’
- Atlantic Campaigns race trio class winners ‘humbled’ after raising nearly US$100,000 for ChildFund Rugby charity
- Valley RFC rugby stars did not realise ‘just how relentless’ the row from La Gomera to Antigua would be
![[From left] Martin Muller,Matthew Bell and Rob Lennox row the Atlantic and win the trio class race. Photo: Atlantic Campaigns Facebook](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1200x800/public/d8/images/canvas/2022/01/21/6d2f5a4d-8cb1-48c5-8a83-b9c0d11c1f99_42422dc1.jpg?itok=GlPPb2ph&v=1642700662)
Three Hong Kong-based rugby players battled a “relentless” schedule to win the trio class in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Campaigns race, but their hard work has created a lifetime bond between them.
“We were best of friends going in, and best of friends coming out. That is a really positive result,” Matthew Bell said.
Bell, Martin Muller and Rob Lennox – crew-mates as East Rows West and teammates at Hong Kong Dettol Premiership rugby club Valley RFC – rowed from La Gomera to Antigua in 37 days, arriving this week. The race is completely unsupported, so they carried their own food and made water with a desalinate.
Usually, rowers work in shifts of two hours rowing and two hours sleeping. But as a three, the days did not divide so evenly. So they rowed in a pattern of two hours and 20 minutes on, and one hour and 40 minutes off, all day and night.
“We knew the ‘fun’ to expect – it would be 30-plus days, battling monotony, boredom and pain,” Bell said. “It was pretty much as expected. What we didn’t realise was just how relentless it would be. It was just all the time.”