A TEAM who rowed across the Atlantic – including a record-breaking teenager – thanked their supporters at a Bank Holiday Sunday event.
The team of four were at the TLA Fitness Studio, Sunningwell, near Abingdon along with the boat they rowed for the 44-day, 3,000-mile challenge.
Tom Alden, 31, Matthew Collier, 49, Simon Hartwright, 40, and Eoin Hartwright, now 17, rowed from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean.
The Atlantic Quad team rowed in pairs for two hours at a time for the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. Eoin, then 16, became the youngest person to row across the Atlantic.
It was the first time the team had been reunited with the boat since completing the challenge in February.
Family, friends and sponsors got to see the boat, which measures 29ft by 5ft, and enjoyed a hog roast, cake sale and bouncy castle.
Gym founder Mr Alden said: “I was invited to join the team at the eleventh hour, with just three days’ notice, so I left all of my family, workers and clients in the lurch when I set off.
“This was a great chance to thank them.”
His mother, Sarah, said: “So many people have asked about the boat, this is the first time I’ve seen it.
“I’m suprised about how small it is.”
The team raised more than £6,000 for East Oxford hospice Helen & Douglas House.
Anna Cole, from the hospice, said: “We really are very proud of them all – this was a massive undertaking.”
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