Row, row, row your boat, gently down the… entire length of the Amazon River.
Not as catchy as the original, but Mark de Rond and Anton Wright won’t worry about that. They’ve just become the first people in history to heave their way down the second longest river in the world completely unaided. All 2,077 miles of it.
The pair, from Cambridge University, completed the challenge in just 32 days, rowing from Nauta, in Peru, to Macapa, on the Brazilian coast. They braved tropical storms, broken equipment and an infected rear end. An abscess on a buttock, to be precise.
The hairiest part of the journey came towards the end, when a freak storm threatened to sink them, but with the help of a local Brazilian boy they were eventually towed to safety.
Speaking to the Metro, de Rond said: “Despite the presence of four fishing vessels there was no response whatsoever to our emergency flares or horn. We were waist-deep in muddy water and facing a badly damaged rudder and rapidly flooding boat.”
In the final stages of the expedition the pair were each rowing for 16 hours per day.
They managed to raise £2,048 for charity and are now back safely in Cambridge.
Have you ever embarked on a crazy adventure? Tell us about it in the comments below!
DS has a whole lot of stuff to juggle in life already. In addition to school and homework, he needs to deal with cadets, LOL and social life.
