Don Lennox (born 1967) is a Guinness World Record holding Scottish ocean rower. [1] Born in Lanark, Scotland, Lennox worked as an architectural model-maker before returning to school at the age of 30 to qualify in Sports Therapy at the City of Glasgow College. Since then, he has worked in the fitness industry as a personal trainer, professional sports team therapist/trainer, and gym owner/manager. Lennox is an ultra runner and ocean rower.
Lennox rowed with a four-man crew in 2010 and broke a 114-year-old ocean rowing record. [2] Lennox, along with Skipper Leven Brown and fellow crewmembers Livar Nysted and Ray Carroll, rowed 3,000 miles (4,800 km) unsupported across the North Atlantic from New York to the Isles of Scilly in a time of 43 days, 21 hours, 26 minutes, and 48 seconds. [1] The previous record was set in 1896 by two Norwegian men, George Harbo and Frank Samuelsen, when they crossed the Atlantic in 55 days. [3]
In 2009, Lennox and skipper Leven Brown rowed together again on the 14-man 'La Mondiale'. [4] The expedition was an attempt to beat the Atlantic crossing record set by their crew on 'La Mondiale' the previous year. The voyage was aborted due to damage sustained to the ship and all crew were safely evacuated onto the bulk carrier 'Island Ranger'. 'La Mondiale' was lost at sea. [5]
Lennox achieved an earlier ocean rowing record on the 2007/08 voyage of the ocean rowing boat ‘La Mondiale’ from Puerta De Mogan, Gran Canaria to Port St. Charles, Barbados. [6] Also skippered by Leven Brown, this fourteen-man crew set the record for the fastest rowing boat to cross the Atlantic Ocean at 33 days, 7 hours, and 30 minutes. [7] At that time, the record had stood for 16 years but has since been broken by the ‘Sara G’ in 2010. [8]
On 3 September 2011, Lennox set off on the Transcontinental Challenge 2011 [9] in an attempt to break the record for the fastest crossing of America on foot set by Frank Giannino in 1980. [10] Despite injuries, an early winter, and financial hardship, he made it to the halfway point (McCook, Nebraska) before his VISA expired. [11] In August 2013, Lennox will re-attempt the 3,100 miles (5,000 km) world record run from San Francisco to New York.
Frank Samuelsen and George Harbo were Norwegian-Americans who in 1896 became the first people ever to row across an ocean. Their time record for rowing the North Atlantic Ocean was not broken for 114 years, and then by four rowers instead of two.
Ocean rowing is the sport of rowing across oceans. Some ocean rowing boats can hold as many as fourteen rowers; however, the most common ocean rowboats are designed for singles, doubles, and fours.
Peter Bird was a British ocean rower who, in 1983, became the first person ever to row non-stop and solo across the Pacific from east to west when he completed his journey from America to Australia.
Ray Carroll is an Irish rower.
Adam Burke is an ocean rower from Skerries, County Dublin, Ireland. He currently holds two Guinness World Records; firstly as a crew member on the Sara G, the fastest pure class ocean rowing boat to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean east to west, and secondly, as a member of the same crew that rowed the most consecutive days, achieving a distance of over 100 miles per day. The record now stands at 12 days.
The Sara G is an ocean rowing boat which holds multiple world records.
Chris Martin is a British rower.
Leven Brown is a British Ocean Rower who has held five Guinness World Records. He along with his crew Don Lennox, Livar Nysted and Ray Carroll also held the world record for "longest distance rowed in 24h in an ocean rowing boat" at 118 miles, is the first and thus far only in the sport ever to have held North and 'Trade Winds' speed records simultaneously and to hold two speed records over two separate oceans Brown was brought up on a landlocked farm in his native Scottish Borders but was introduced to the ocean at an early age where he discovered ocean rowing. After a career with Brewin Dolphin Securities that spanned 17 years he did his first Ocean Row in 2005.
Breffny Morgan is an Irish socialite and television personality, known for his appearances on reality shows such as The Apprentice, Celebrity Salon and Celebrity Bainisteoir.
Livar Nysted is an ocean rower and an artist, a painter. He grew up in the small village of Hvannasund in the Faroe Islands. Nysted has achieved five world records in ocean rowing. In 2010 he – together with three other rowers – successfully crossed the North Atlantic Ocean in a rowing boat, breaking a 114-year-old record. In January 2013 he went on another journey, this time the plan was to cross the South Atlantic Ocean with a boat called Avalon. The crew was eight men, they started on 18 January from Puerto de Mogán, Gran Canaria, and their plan was to row to Port Saint Charles, Barbados. They made it all the way to Barbados on 22 February 2013 after rowing for 32 days, 12 hours and 41 minutes. Later the same year Nysted went on another expedition together with two other men. Their journey started in Australia on 9 June 2013. They crossed the Indian Ocean by rowing. They arrived at Mauritius on 5 August 2013 after rowing for 57 days, 15 hours and 49 minutes, which was a new world record. Livar sat three world records after completing this journey: he and the two others were the first crew of three to cross the Indian Ocean, they were also the fastest rowing crew to row this distance, and Livar sat a new world record for having crossed two oceans in a rowing boat within the same year.
Ben Thackwray is a record breaking British adventurer, explorer, endurance athlete, ocean rower, mountaineer, cross-country skier, ultra distance runner, and former semi-pro footballer.
Mick Dawson is a former Royal Marine Commando, film maker, professional sailor and adventurer. He is best known for rowing the Pacific Ocean with friend and fellow ocean rower Chris Martin in a new state of the art vessel, Bojangles, which Mick built. In 2009, they completed their 7,000 mi (11,000 km) voyage in 189 days 10 hours and 55 minutes; a world first and earning a place in the Guinness Book of records.
James Ketchell is a British adventurer. On 1 February 2014, Ketchell became the first person to complete the triathlon of rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, summiting Mount Everest and cycling around the world. On 22 September 2019, Ketchell landed his gyrocopter in Basingstoke, England, becoming the first person to circumnavigate the globe in an autogyro, flying for 175 successive days.
Jamie Sparks, is a British ocean rower and adventurer. On 27 January 2014 he, alongside fellow Briton Luke Birch, became the Guinness world record holders for the youngest pair to row across any ocean. In 2014, Sparks skippered the first ever unsupported row from Exmouth, Australia to the Seychelles. Sparks and his crew, consisting of Angus Collins, Hamish Khayat and Alex Simpson, were at sea for 71 days.
Fiann Paul is a Polish-Icelandic explorer known for his exploits in ocean rowing.
Michael "Mike" Matson is an American ocean rower and author who holds 2 Guinness World Records.
The 2007 race left San Sebastián de la Gomera on Sunday 2 December 2007 with the finish in English Harbour, Antigua, on the same course as the 2005 race. 2 singles, 15 pairs and 5 fours started the race, with a six-crew boat starting slightly later. One pair "Titanic Challenge" and one Four "Move Ahead II" retired early on.
Anders Johan Svedlund,, was a Swedish born, naturalized New Zealand ocean rowing pioneer. Anders performed 2 of 14 Historic ocean rows listed by Ocean Rowing Society, the official Guinness Adjudicator for ocean rowing. He was the first to row the Indian Ocean, the first to row on the Pacific solo, and the fastest ocean rower of his times.
Ocean Rowing Society International (ORSI) (prior to 2006 known as ORS), is the governing body for international ocean rowing and official adjudicator of ocean rowing records for Guinness World Records. ORSI was founded in 1983 in California by ocean rower Peter Bird and Kenneth F.Crutchlow FRGS. Current coordinators of ORSI are Tatiana Rezvaya-Crutchlow and Chris Martin, and Fiann Paul.
The Ocean Explorers Grand Slam is an adventurer goal to complete open-water crossings on all five oceans using human-powered vessel.