THE leader of an intrepid team of oarsmen has spoken of his elation after his team sailed into the record books as the first people ever to row non-stop around mainland Britain. The GB Row Challenge crew, headed by Lt William de Laszlo, of Newton Valence, reached Tower Bridge on Monday morning, completing the mammoth challenge in just under 27 days. Despite being hit by force eight gales and 50- ft waves, capsized by a freak wave which broke two oars and even running aground, Lt de Laszlo and his team - Lt Ben Jesty, 24, of London, Sgt James Bastin, 34, of Gloucestershire and Will Turnage, 25, of Lymington - managed to row an incredible 70 miles a day in their 23-feet-long boat, Outward Bound. Speaking after reaching the finish line, Lt de Laszlo, a Grenadier guardsman, told The Herald that his overwhelming feelings were exhaustion and relief. "All along the Thames we had had strong winds so when we reached Tower Bridge we were exhausted and quite relieved to have finished," he said. "The whole challenge was very, very hard work. I had put so much time and effort into organising the whole project as well that when we reached the finish line there was just this feeling of elation at seeing friends and family there waiting for me. "Keeping ourselves motivated these last few weeks has been really hard, especially in 50 mph headwinds. It's great to be home." The challenge is believed to be more difficult than rowing across the Atlantic, due to winds and currents. The team carried all their own food and water in the boat, which weighed nearly two tonnes when they left London on June 7. They lived on army rations and cold water. They reached Land's End in less than a week, but two days later they were hit by force eight winds and mountainous seas in the southern approaches of the Irish Sea. For two weeks the sun never shone, which resulted in the crew being rationed to one litre of water a day. This was because the boat's solar panels could not produce enough power to fully work the desalination unit, which turned sea water into drinking water. Last Wednesday, the team had a scare when their boat tipped over in Scarborough Bay. The starboard oars acted as stabilisers, preventing the boat completely turning turtle. Both oars were smashed by the power of the 10-feet- high wave. And on Sunday, battling against a force five headwind and strong tide, they attempted a short-cut across the notorious Maplin Sands. But the gamble failed when the receding tide left them high and dry on a sandbank for five hours. Despite all this, one of the hardest parts of the challenge, according to Lt de Laszlo, was going without a bath. He said: "Weight was a huge issue on board so I had to cut down as much as possible on what we carried. Because of this we had just one baby-wipe per person per day to clean ourselves." Surviving on just a couple of hours rest every two hours has taken its toll on the 26-year- old's body too. "I can't close my hands. Where we have been rowing for two hours and then resting for two hours, while the other two take over, my body has not had the chance to relax. I can't walk properly either," he said. "You get used to it though and just keep on going. In a way I guess, it was harder than I imagined it would be." Lt de Laszlo left his wife Katy behind to embark on the challenge, but he said he tried not to think about what he was missing while undertaking the challenge. He said: "You try not to think about the things that you miss too much. I love fresh fruit which I missed. It is just really things that you take for granted." The team hope to have raised £1 million for charity through the challenge, to be split between The Outward Bound Trust - a charity that aims to provide young people with a safe environment for challenging outdoor activities - and the Bud Flannagan Leukaemia Fund, based at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Sutton, Surrey. Lt de Laszlo said he chose the record-setting challenge because he wanted to raise public awareness of the charities. "A very good friend of mine's brother died of leukaemia six years ago and I wanted to raise as much money as possible," he said. "I think I chose to do this because I wanted something that was going to be really hard and something that had never been done before. It was quite important, for me, that it was really hard so that people would take notice of what we were doing. "Although it was hard, nothing compares to what people with leukaemia have to go through." One of the highlights of the challenge, apart from setting a new world record, was seeing the beautiful countryside, according to Lt de Laszlo. "It is such a beautiful country - from the White Cliffs of Dover to the Norfolk coastline. We just felt really privileged and honoured to be able to see England at its best," he said. Lt de Laszlo is now enjoying a well-earned rest before returning to work on Monday. l The team are still collecting charitable donations. Anyone wishing to contribute can do so online at http://www.gbrowchallenge.com">www.gbrowchallenge.com
