Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Luke Birch swam across the English Channel in 2010 under the tutelage of Nick Adams in 14 hours 45 minutes at the age of 17.

Having completed such a monumental achievement as a teenager, what was Birch to do next?

Study a bit. Then row across the Atlantic Ocean with his friend Jamie Sparks in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, the world’s toughest rowing race.

Adams explains after the pair has been on the ocean for over 53 days, “Sometime [soon] he will arrive in Antigua in the Caribbean, having rowed 3,000 miles with his childhood friend Jamie Sparks. They will become the youngest pair to ever row the Atlantic and it will have taken them around 54 days to complete it. The conditions in the race this year have been foul, but they managed to keep to the “2-hour on, 2-hour off” schedule for most of the journey.

Luke decided upon this ‘little adventure’, when his mum Claire was diagnosed with breast cancer, and beat it with a great deal of support from the Breast Cancer Care charity and her family. Luke wanted to give back, and has so far managed to raise over £185,000 for them with this row.”

Follow 21-year-old Birch and 22-year-old Sparks here as they complete their journey.





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