Team Scholarship becomes 1st in Pairs Class to complete World’s Toughest Row challenge

Antigua and Barbuda: Team Scholarship representing the United Kingdom have become the first in the Pairs Class in the 2024 World's Toughest Row to reach the finish line in Antigua in 42 days, 14 hours and 51 minutes. The team comprises of father and son duo Paul and Josh, and they have raised awareness and funds for Twinning Project. 

They left La Gomera on December 11, 2024, and rowed 3000 miles to finish in the Caribbean Island of Antigua on Wednesday. They finished at 9th place out of 38 teams, but their arrival was significant as they were the first ones from the Pairs Class category. 

The duo has long dreamt of rowing across an ocean and together they have finally turned that dream into reality. While training and raising campaign awareness is a monumental effort for all team, Josh, the youngest member of this year’s fleet balanced impressively between school and his sports.

Meanwhile, Paul, who is a seasoned sailor, aimed to make waves in the pairs class since the start and with his focus on optimising their boat’s performance throughout the journey, the duo achieved the milestone with becoming the first in their category to reach the finish line.  

As the duo arrived at the Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua, they were greeted by their family, friends and representatives from the World’s Toughest Row. Paul and Josh were honoured with certificates by the officials who lauded the 18-year-old and his father for achieving this milestone and completing the challenge successfully.  

Following the completion of this challenge, Josh said that he really wanted to do a big challenge and complete it with his father. Meanwhile Paul said expressed his gratitude to everyone who supported the duo throughout the journey. 

He also emphasised that the weather this year had been quite tricky with low pressures throughout the 42 days in the ocean, making the overall journey quite tough. He said that however the coordination between the two of them made it less challenging and allowed them to reach the finish line in time.  

Notably, the first team to reach the finish line in Antigua in 2024’s World Toughest Row was Team Row4Cancer who completed the challenge in 37 days, 13 hours and 20 minutes. With Team Scholarship becoming the 9th team to arrive at the finish line, the officials await the arrival of test of the teams who are still in the ocean and rowing towards the end.