The Teams

Ben Steadman and Mark Davis. Two Prison Service Senior Officers who are rowing to raise money for Macmillan Cancer support and Caudwell Children. Main reasons for taking part are:

a) Winning!
b) Winning!
c) Winning!

Three years training will now put the team through the biggest test of their lives and will help to show others that dedication, commitment and drive will allow the achievement of any task put before you.! In the words of Woodvale Challenge….."No previous experience required"!!! Lets see!

Roger is an independent Management Consultant with a background in Mechanical, Aerospace & Composite Engineering. At 50 he's the oldest competitor but don't let that fool you as he's a very fit competent oarsman having been Captain of The Skiff Club in Teddington for the past 2 years racing traditional clinker built Thames Racing Skiffs.

Tom is a former Royal Navy and current RNR officer, having seen service all over the world, most recently in the conflict in Iraq. In his civilian life he worked for De La Rue, supplying passports and ID cards to Africa. Married with two sons, Tom has been rowing skiffs for a number of years and is a great lover of outdoor pursuits in general.

Roger & Tom felt compelled to be part of this inaugural race across the Indian Ocean & the magnitude of the challenge that this presents. In participating they hope to raise significant funds to help the Asthma UK charity & a foundation in Sierra Leone offering scholarships to the university in Freetown

Hi, we are James Thysse and Jamie Facer-Childs and together we are team "Oz To Africa". We make up the youngest team in the race and are looking forward to whatever the Indian Ocean might throw at us. Rowing the Indian became an idea we just couldn't get out of our minds and so here we are a year down the line about to take on the biggest challenge of our lives. We are rowing to explore the untouched and least rowed ocean, pushing and testing the limits of human endurance. Using this incredible challenge to conduct ocean research for Earthwatch and raise money for two important charities. Headway the UK's leading brain injury charity, who give support and care to sufferers of brain injury and Sparks the children's medical research charity, funding projects throughout the UK into childhood illnesses and ways to prevent and treat them. Our website is www.oztoafrica.com and we continue to fund-raise so please make a donation.

We are two enthusiastic and determined School friends from the UK taking part in a "world's first" with the possibility of being the first Pair to cross the Indian Ocean. It is also a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness and funds for our chosen charity Orchid. Both of us are looking forward to the challenge of a lifetime.

"Many people when told of the journey we intend to undertake ask us the same question “why?” and we give everyone the same answer “for the challenge!”

All four of us are successful, competitive rowers and between us have over 30 years of rowing experience and numerous championship wins under our belts. We all train hard for our sport and we all know the overwhelming sense of elation when that training comes together to an ultimate success, and know the harder you have worked for that success the sweeter it becomes. For a few years now all four of us have had ideas on ocean rowing, and thought, if not dreamt of what it would feel like to row across an ocean; the sensation of being alone in such vastness, the emotion of finding hope and determination when it feels like you may never make it, and the final truly amazing sense of satisfaction when you arrive on the other side making up for any hardship endured along the way.

We can not see any other challenge posing such adversitie

We are 4 young women who just couldn't resist the opportunity to push ourselves to our limits by rowing across the Indian Ocean. We are aiming to raise lots of money for Breast Cancer Care, a fantastic charity that is very important to all of us. To date no women have rowed across the Indian Ocean so to have the chance to be the first is just amazing. As the only all female crew in the race we are doing it for the girls!