Shrewsbury rower nears finish line in 'world's toughest' Atlantic challenge

Katherine Antrobus, who learned to row on the River Severn as a teenager, set off from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on December 12 as part of a crew of three women aiming to reach Antigua in the Caribbean.

Katherine is joined by Hatty Carder, 28, from London, and skipper Bobbie Mellor, 34, from North Yorkshire, who all trained for for two years to compete in the 'World's Toughest Row', formerly known as the Talisker Whisky Atlantic.

On Sunday afternoon, their team ‘Wavebreakers’ was less than 100 nautical miles from the finish line.

The Wavebreakers are currently in 10th place overall out of 38 crews that entered this year's race, but are in second place for teams of three and third in the women's class.

They are rowing for #YourPlanet, which campaigns on behalf of vulnerable animal species and climate refugees, raising money for the WWF’s Climate Crisis Fund and UNHCR’s climate crisis work.

They have raised nearly £80,000 of their £140,000 target on their charity website justgiving.com/fundraising/wavebreakers2023.

The World's Toughest Row was won overall by a team of five Royal Navy submariners known collectively as 'HMS Oardacious' who arrived in Antigua on Wednesday.

Also competing in the event this year are husband and wife team Dani and Mark Jones who are originally from Oswestry and Bridgnorth in Shropshire. The pair want to achieve a world record for fastest married couple to row across the Atlantic ocean.

Their boat For Better Oar Worse was 37th on Sunday and still 1,300 nautical miles from the finish line but they are set to get a medal as their boat is the only one competing in the mixed class.

Ian Davies, 63, from Oswestry, and his friend Jim Ronaldson, 66, are also competing and hoping to become the oldest pair to ever row the Atlantic in their boat Never2Late. The pair were still 1,200 nautical miles from the finish on Sunday and are running 34th.