In 2018 adventure-loving rower Claire Hughes set a new Atlantic rowing world record in the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic challenge, as the only woman in the four-person team, Team Tyne Innovation. Overcoming exhaustion and 40ft waves, the team rowed 2-hours on and 2-hours off for 42 days to break the mixed fours team record by 14 days.
Now, two years later, Claire is preparing for a new row which, if successful, will see her and her expedition teammates claim a world first. Described as ‘the last great first’, the Northwest Passage is a 2000-mile Arctic route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. With extreme Arctic conditions, unpredictable ice and polar bears, only three attempts have been made this century to row it, all of which have been unsuccessful.
To find out more about this incredible expedition (due to begin next year) and how she’s preparing for it, I put some questions to Claire about the demands and dangers of attempting the Northwest Passage row.
