For Lauren “Nini” Champion, a 2016 Environmental Science and Policy graduate, rowing a boat doesn’t so much happen gently down the stream as it does fiercely across the ocean, amid towering waves, roaring winds and unforgiving sun.
In January, she completed what’s known as the World’s Toughest Row, an unassisted 3,000-mile trek on the open sea from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to the Caribbean island of Antigua. Along with her teammate, Lisa Roland, Champion lived up to her name, crossing the finish line in 45 days to set a world record for a female duo rowing across the Atlantic.
The Annapolis native grew up sailing with her family and had even previously crossed the Atlantic by sailboat with them. After graduating from the University of Maryland, she joined her brother in the sailing industry in Antigua, landing a job as a first mate. She always had a desire to be on the ocean, which helped prime her education and led her into environmental science.
“My passion for sailing as well as my interest in environmental science, I believe, culminated from growing up on the Chesapeake Bay,” Champion said. “At UMD I was able to expand my knowledge about sources of water pollution, forms of wildlife management, the impacts of climate change, as well as conservation, sustainability, mitigation, and management. Climate change and ocean conservation are topics that I would say are most at the forefront of my mind working in the sailing industry.”
After meeting Roland, who was also working on yachts in Antigua, they soon started their “row-lationship,” as Champion calls it, forming Team Ocean Grown and spending the next three years training, including swimming, weightlifting and practicing with rowing clubs. After Champion and Roland both bounced around for their jobs, they joined up in St. Thomas, where they logged over 100 hours in their racing vessel. Named Invictus, the 7-meter-long boat features solar panels to power navigation equipment and a water maker for drinking, two small cabins and rowing stations.
Race organizers checked in with the eight competing pairs via satellite phone every 48 hours, but that was all the help—or outside contact—they got as they braved stories-high waves and endured sun-soaked stretches of an unchanging seascape. Those check-ins gave Champion and Roland something to look forward to, breaking up the monotony of eating freeze-dried meals, brief stints of sleep and having hours upon hours to think.
“We did rowing rotations of 2 hours on, 2 hours off, over the course of 24 hours,” she said. “Even in the 2 hours off, though, I would have to make time for meal prep, hygiene, making water, etc. An early and vivid memory from the row was the challenge to pull myself out from sleep to get my kit on and get back on the oars.”
After braving a partial capsize, uncooperative winds and blazing heat, the duo closed in on Antigua with the world record in sight. They clocked in at 45 days, one hour and 27 minutes, breaking the previous record by just under six hours.
“The most memorable part of it for me was just stepping on shore and how shocked I was with how I felt in my body,” Champion said. “I honestly felt nearly intoxicated. It was like ‘motion stillness,’ I like to call it.”
The team scored another victory as well. Champion and Roland, who was raised in the foster care system, developed the Bridges Over Water fund to help young adults aging out of foster care find jobs in the maritime industry. As part of a fundraising campaign ahead of the race, they collected nearly $60,000 in proceeds to go toward 10 scholarships, with the application available online now at the Bridges Over Water website.
“Some of the important lessons this experience has shown to me are: you can do anything you set your mind to, and take it one step at a time,” Champion said. “After finding a teammate and developing the Bridges Over Water Fund, it took us nearly 3 years to make it just to the start line. We had the support of donations from sponsors, but the funds for operational costs, as well as our charitable cause, were truly made one dollar at a time, just as our row across the Atlantic was achieved one stroke at a time.”
by Annie Krakower: Momentum Magazine Summer 2024
