The Rower

• Name: Leven Sinclair Brown
• D.O.B.: 14th August 1972
• Click here to view photos

Why am I doing this?

Firstly, to raise at least £100,000 and more if possible for The Sportsman's Charity and The One City Trust.

Secondly, as a personal challenge to cross an ocean using only the physical and mental strength afforded to me. To overcome the challenges not only set by the ocean itself but in getting the boat and the rower to the starting line in a seaworthy condition.

Leven was inspired to take up oars for this challenge in 1987 when, at the age of 15, he attended the John Ridgway School of Adventure. Here he met John, who with Chay Blyth, were the 2nd crew since 1896 to row across the Atlantic in a rowing boat with neither GPS systems nor satellite phones.

Our intrepid explorer is now out on the high seas, rowing for between 12 & 18 hours per day and consuming around 7000 calories to fuel this effort. Few expeditions are a match for an ocean row in terms of endurance. Apart from the gargantuan daily effort of rowing, there is the fact that Leven's working environment is a boat of 23ft x 6ft - of which only around 45 square feet is usable for moving around in.