Female Rowers First Around The Coast Of Britain

Four female rowers became the first women ever to row around the coast of Britain, completing an epic 51 days at sea in their tiny boat at Tower Bridge in London.
By becoming the first women ever to row around mainland Britain, their time of 51 days 16hours 42minutes has been accepted for a Guinness World Record.
Belinda Kirk, 35, from Bristol, Royal Navy nurse Laura Thomasson, 23, from Dover, IT support manager Beverley Ashton, 29, from Wantage, Oxfordshire and Angela Madsen, a wheelchair bound 50 year old grandmother and former US Marine from Long Beach, California are raising money for the services’ charity, Help For Heroes.
When they set out from Tower Bridge in London on June 1, they were taking part in Virgin GB Row 2010, the world’s toughest rowing race. They were racing a team of four men around the British mainland but when the male team gave up after less than two weeks, the women carried on alone and without any assistance for five more weeks and 2,000 miles.
During that time the Seagals, as they are known, were swamped by huge waves which put the boat’s water maker out of action, almost sunk by a rogue wave that flooded the front cabin, survived storms, navigated some of the most treacherous tides on the planet, were almost been mown down by ships, bombed by the RAF and ran short of food.
Angela Madsen broke her finger setting off a flare to warn off a ship that was on a collision course then carried on rowing by strapping her hand to the oar.
Because of bad weather and strong winds, their journey has taken three weeks more than expected and they packed enough food for just 40 days. A power failure onboard the boat during the final week meant they had to ration drinking water.
Sir Richard Branson, who sponsored the event, awarded the first ever Virgin Trophy to the winners. He said, ‘This is why we set up the Virgin Trophy. Belinda, Angela, Laura and Beverley have pushed through extreme tiredness, hunger and serious injury to battle on and achieve the goal they set out to achieve.’
After passing under Tower Bridge at the end of their epic journey, the four women had an emotional reunion with friends and family they haven’t seen for more than seven weeks.