Four women who met online row 3,000 miles across Atlantic in 39 days despite two tumbling overboard from duct-taped boat

Four women who started off as strangers before rowing more than 3,000 miles across the Atlantic in just over 39 days, raising awareness of women in sport, eating disorders and endometriosis, have managed to come in eighth place despite two members going overboard and having to duct tape parts of the boat together while at sea.

Victoria Monk, 31, and Ana Zigic, 28, both sports marketers living in London, together with Ellie Reynolds, 25, a PhD student from Cardiff, and Abbey Platten, 27, a personal trainer from Norwich, decided to tackle The World’s Toughest Row after meeting for the first time online in 2021.

The group began training that year, going to the gym for two hours a day and meeting up every weekend to learn how to row ahead of the race in December 2023.

The team decided to take on the challenge to raise money for Eating Matters, as Abbey and Ellie both had eating disorders when they were younger, Endometriosis UK, because Ana has the condition, and Women’s Sport Trust because they had all faced challenges as women in sport.

They ended up breaking the record for the fastest British women’s team to cross the Atlantic.

They completed the challenge on January 21 2023 in 39 days 12 hours and 25 minutes, starting off in La Gomera in the Canary Islands and finishing in Antigua, rowing 3,072 miles on a 9.6 metre rowing boat with no running water or shade on board.

Along the way Abbey and Victoria went overboard, the boat became so damaged it needed duct tape and the women lost the majority of their muscle mass.

So far, they have managed to raise more than £8,000 for their chosen charities and are now planning to go into schools, Girl Guides and Scouts groups to raise awareness about their challenge and inspire other women.

Victoria told PA Real Life: “We were contending with 30-foot waves … we very nearly capsized and we were black and blue.

“We had horrendous sea sickness, the boat took a bit of a beating, we had broken gates, we had water-maker issues, navigation issues.

“By the end, we were duct taping one of our rowing gates and just praying to heaven that it did at least survive the rest of the journey.

“There’s two sleeping cabins, one at either end and when conditions are rough like that, it’s like you’re inside a washing machine – it was so hard to sleep.

“I’ve got bruises that are two and a half weeks old and they’re still showing.”

Victoria first heard about the race five years ago, and, in 2021, encouraged the other three women, who were strangers at the time, to participate.

“I was just so unbelievably inspired by this completely bonkers thing – I’d seen these ‘normal’ people setting off on this just extraordinary journey, taking on something seemingly completely impossible,” she said.

“I knew at that point that it was something that not even I wanted to do, but I just had to do and I knew also that it was something that I wanted to do in a team of women … to share what women are capable of.”

Victoria then put “feelers out” on LinkedIn, Instagram triathlon groups and an explorer’s blog, and set up her team.

The women then decided the charities they were going to raise money for – Endometriosis UK, Women’s Sport Trust and Eating Matters.

Victoria said: “A lot of it was about inspiring girls to get into sport, so Women’s Sport Trust does a lot of work championing for more visibility of women’s sport.

“And then the other charities linked to people dropping out of sport for different reasons – Ana has endometriosis so that was really close to her heart, and was something that has prevented her from being involved in sport, and so obviously, that was something that we wanted to raise the profile of.

“And then Eating Matters was one chosen by Abbey and Ellie.”

Abbey added: “I always did loads of sports at school but unfortunately I got diagnosed with an eating disorder at 15.

“So from the age of 15 to 20 I was in and out of hospital,and as you can probably imagine in an eating disorder ward they don’t really promote you doing any sports apart from yoga or going on a walk or something.

“So I kind of lost out on that massively through those years … but I started doing CrossFit with women of all shapes and sizes and it completely reshaped my whole idea of sport and movement, and it’s massively helped my mental health to no end.”

Ellie was also diagnosed with an eating disorder when she was 16 and used exercise as a “mask” for her illness, but when she went to university she rediscovered her love for sport.

The women then started a rigorous training plan of a minimum of two hours in the gym per day, and gave up every weekend to train together on a boat, with some members even having to miss birthdays and their best friend’s wedding.

“It was multifaceted – so Abbey, Ellie and I had never rowed before,” Victoria explained.

“Not only that, being on the Atlantic is completely different to river rowing – you’re being thrown around by Mother Nature, so we had to get really strong.

“We did stuff to help with stress training … so we were also working with sports psychologists to help with mental preparation, as well as navigation courses, seamanship courses, survival at sea, and first aid.”

On December 13 2023, the four women started the race in La Gomera and finished on January 21 2024 Antigua.

Abbey’s experience was definitely not plain sailing as she went overboard in the middle of the night.

“It was slightly terrifying – it was pitch black,” she said.

“A wave hit the side and I just lost my balance and tumbled over.

“It just happened so quickly – before I knew it, I was back on the boat and everyone was trying to get me dry and give me food.

“It’s crazy though because I could not have made it and we did so many drills in training but it’s so different when it happens.”

The women were living off three ration bags of dried food and one snack bag per day, which were the equivalent to 60 calories per one kilogram of their body weight.

“By the end of it, I was eating squashed Snickers bars that no one else wanted,” Abbey explained.

“Now I can’t even look at a Snickers bar or a flapjack!

“Ana’s husband got us all an ice cream when we finished and oh my God I still can’t explain how amazing it was, I don’t think ice cream will ever taste that good!”

After 39 days 12 hours and 25 minutes of rowing, the women crossed the finish line, coming in at eighth place and second in the women’s section.

Ellie said: “The finish moment was incredible. I don’t think there’s anything that will ever come close to the emotions that day.

“The head safety officer set off a flare and screamed and shouted, and so did every other team there … wherever we went on the island people were asking about it and congratulating us.”

After the race, the women could barely walk for 10 days and they are still trying to rebuild the muscle they lost while on the boat.

“My muscle mass has completely disappeared – I think it’ll be several months until we’re back to where we were pre-row,” Victoria explained.

After the race was over, the team managed to raise more than £8,000 for their chosen charities, and thanked the support of Iroha, a Japanese sexual wellness brand, created to redefine pleasure by treating self-pleasure in the same way we treat self-care, who sponsored them.

Looking to the future, the team is hoping to inspire girls to get into sport.

Victoria said: “Now we have the platform, we’re planning to speak to girls and women in school, Scouts and Guides to try to inspire as many as possible.

“Inevitably we’ll do more challenges together in the future but raising awareness is the thing I want to focus on.”

To donate to the team’s GoFundMe, visit: www.gofundme.com/f/there-she-rows-atlantic-challenge