RAF Mildenhall firefighter breaks world record for indoor rowing

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  In tandem with a civilian from Manchester he'd met through a rowing forum, Crew Chief Maurice O'Kane, 100th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department, broke an indoor world record May 4, when between them, he and Stewart Thorp rowed 50 hours non-stop and just over 350 miles.

Preparing for their tandem heavy-weight record attempt, held at a school in Manchester, the pair were supported by school children, teachers, family and friends.

Each man had to row for 30 minutes at a time - not allowing the rowing machine wheel to stop at any time - from May 2 at 10 a.m. to noon May 4, the Defence Fire Service firefighter and his teammate rowed to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

O'Kane said the rowing machine he uses at home has software which can be hooked to a computer and allows him to row "against" other people, no matter how far away they actually are.

"I met Stewart Thorp about 12 months ago online," O'Kane said. "We've been rowing against each other (online) around three times a week, and decided it would be a good idea to work together and raise money for charity."

The distance they set as their goal was the equivalent of roughly 17 times across the English Channel, and the duo set their target goal of 50 hours non-stop.

It wasn't until right before they started the challenge that they found out the record for the longest continuous row in their category was 24 hours and 4 minutes - less than half of what they were about to do.

"But we decided to keep on going and get to the 50 hours anyway," O'Kane said. "The kids supporting us kept asking us if we'd broken the record; when we told them 'yes,' they asked us why we were still rowing ... We couldn't really give them an answer!"

At the event, O'Kane and Thorp had an extra rowing machine available, so children and others there could join in and do some rowing as well.

"It got them involved, and people there kept track of who (out of the children) rowed the farthest," O'Kane said.

He said the toughest part was to keep motivated, especially through the night.

"All we were able to do as we rowed was just stare at a big clock, counting down the time," he said. "We bought loads of caffeine and energy drinks, and the school teachers brought us bacon rolls each morning to keep us going."

O'Kane said they suffered from blisters and lower back pain, but didn't encounter any serious problems.

"I had my bad times, when I felt like giving up -then I'd think about the people who sponsored us, the charity, and those who'd come along to support us, and I would just keep on going. I actually lost a stone (14 pounds) in weight over the 50 hours! I've put most of it back on since, though."

He said as they neared the end of the countdown, he started to feel great.

"The kids and everyone there started counting down the last few seconds until the clock finished - it was a great feeling! Everyone was clapping and cheering for us, and there was lots of handshaking.

"But two nights without sleep is really hard - you start hallucinating. At the end, it was quite emotional."

The two men raised about £1,800 for the British Heart Foundation.