Couple from Chiswick take part in the world’s toughest rowing race

Through The Blue team, L to R: Cal Mayhook, Antonia Rough, Ana Žigić and Matt Christie 

Ana Žigić and Matt Christie will row the Atlantic in a four-person crew

A couple from Chiswick are taking part in the world’s toughest rowing race.

Ana Žigić and Matt Christie will be rowing across the Atlantic in December with a couple of friends in a four-person crew. No engine, no sail, propelled just their own muscle power.

The race, originated in 1997 by transatlantic yachtsman Sir Chay Blyth – the first person to sail single-handed non-stop westwards around the world in 1971 – has been run since 2012 by Atlantic Campaigns SL.

Now called The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, the 2,550 mile race from the Canary Islands to the West Indies has become known as ‘The World’s Toughest Row‘ which boats enter with either five, four, three or two person crews, or solo rowers.

There She Rows, taking part in the 2023 World’s Toughest Row; image courtesy of the World’s Toughest Row

There She Rows 2023

Ana has done the race before. She took part with three other women as ‘There She Rows’, breaking the female British record for the fastest self-sustained 5,000km row across the Atlantic Ocean in 2023.

Growing up in Chiswick, she started rowing at school, at the Emmanuel School boathouse by Barnes Bridge, “because I wasn’t any good at any other sport”, she told The Chiswick Calendar. She has also rowed with Tideway Scullers and with Mortlake boat club.

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She applied, along with a hundred others, to take part in the 2023 race, and was selected alongside three others. Their boat was nine and a half metres long by one and a half wide, with a tiny cabin “like a pop-up tent” at each end, and they rowed in shifts of two. While two rowed, the other two ate, washed, slept and looked after the navigation.

L to R: Abbey Platten, Ana Žigić, Viki Monk and Ellie Reynolds; image courtesy of the World’s Toughest Row

“Almost a straight line across the Atlantic”

To cross the Atlantic like that is an incredible feat of endurance. They set off from the shore of San Sebastian de La Gomera in the Canaries and arrived 39 days later at Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua.

“We had a machine that used solar power to desalinate the sea water which we used to drink and to re-hydrate these powdered meals we had in sachets”.

They shared their food because one of the crew who was vegetarian found she was losing too much weight, so she had to give up being vegetarian for the duration of the trip and eat more protein. They also had to row a double shift if one of the other crew members was ill.

“We had really bad seasickness for the first few days”.

They had an interesting way of keeping their spirits up:

“We did really well at staying cohesive. Vicky [the skipper] was very good at making sure we talked through how the day had gone every evening, but we also had a team scream. We just screamed as loud as we could out into the ether. You couldn’t do it in London, the neighbours would think someone was being murdered”.

There She Rows, 2023; image courtesy of the World’s Toughest Row

“Almost missed Antigua altogether”

They used a chart plotter for navigation and had an AIS system [Automatic Identification System].

“The biggest potential problem is big ships not seeing you”.

With an AIS system, an alarm goes off if there is one in range so they could then call the ship and ask them to change course. She made the navigation sound easy:

“It’s almost a straight line across from the Canaries to Antigua” she told me, but factoring in winds and tides is not quite as easy as she made it sound.

“We had to drop a parachute into the water to stop us being dragged at one point and we almost missed Antigua altogether. Our coach texted us three days from landing and said if we didn’t get the bearing right then we would go past it”.

Rowing into English Harbour, Antigua

First proper meal after 39 days?

Rowing into English Harbour was a euphoric and surreal experience.

“You row into this beautiful marina with very fancy yachts all around. Two buoys mark the finish line, and we had permission to let off our emergency flares. We suddenly heard this screaming, which was our friends and family up at the fortress, and the superyachts were all blowing their horns”.

The first order of the day on landing is to have a decent meal – a chicken burger.

Through The Blue

Raising sponsorship for the next time

This time around she will be rowing with her husband, Canadian Matt Christie, a friend she met at university, Antonia Rough, and her husband, Australian Cal Mayhook, with the team name ‘Through The Blue’ in a boat called Jack.

Matt came to England with the sole aim of winning the Britannia Cup at the Henley Regatta, Ana told me.

“I told him if he won the race we could go on a date”, so of course he won.

Antonia and Cal live in Australia, so the two couples meet up periodically to row together in the Netherlands, chartering a boat from there which another crew are currently using in this year’s race.

Through The Blue with Jack

They have to clock up 120 hours rowing together to take part in the race, and have been working their way through various RYA accredited courses, including navigation, sea survival and marine rescue.

They need £100,000 to take part in the race and are looking to raise a further £50,000 for charity – their chosen charity is Laureus, the sports charity established by Nelson Mandela in recognition of the profound role that sport can play in nation-building and reconciliation.

They have set up a Just Giving page to fund the row:

Fundraiser by Through The Blue

And they have a sponsorship proposal for businesses:

Sponsorship Through The Blue

Read more stories on The Chiswick Calendar