Chris Martin (rower)

Chris Martin is a rower born 27 January 1981 in Chertsey, Surrey, England.^[1]

Early Rowing Career

Martin started rowing at 14 at Hampton School. At the end of his third year of rowing he raced as part of the British team and remained part of the British rowing team at six World Rowing Championships returning with a medal from each.^[1]

1997 Hazewinkel, Belgium : World Junior Championships JM8+ 3rd^[2]

1998 Ottensheim, Austria : World Junior Championships JM4+ 3rd^[3]

1999 Plovdiv, Bulgaria : World Junior Championships JM4- 2nd^[4]

2000 Copenhagen, Denmark : Nations Cup M4+ 1st^[5]

2001 Ottensheim, Austria : U23 World Championships M4- 2nd^[6]

2001 Lucerne, Switzerland : World Rowing Championships M4+ 3rd^[7]

Martin also competed in the World Cup races in 2002^[8][9] but without repeating his earlier medal winning form.

2002 Nottingham, UK : Commonwealth Regatta M2- 3rd^[10]

Ocean Rowing

Martin rowing Pacific Pete in the 2005 Atlantic Rowing Race

Having been dropped from the GB squad, Martin turned his attention to Ocean rowing and in 2005/06 rowed across the Atlantic Ocean solo, as part of the Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race^[11] in 68 days, 15 hours and 19 minutes to become the 31st solo ocean rower to cross the Atlantic Ocean on the East to West route.^[12] During his row he also conducted observations on the ocean currents affecting his boat Pacific Pete for Earth & Space Research as part of Ocean Surface Current Analyses Real-time (OSCAR).^[13]

Martin remained an active member within the Ocean Rowing community and was one of the co-founders of the Association of Ocean Rowers.^[14]

In 2006, Martin joined a team of Royal Marines Reserves in a row from London to Paris as part of their preparations for breaking the record for the Atlantic east to west route.^[15]

After this Martin spent three years preparing for a double handed row with Mick Dawson. On 8 May 2009 Martin and Dawson set off from Choshi, Japan into the North Pacific Ocean.^[16] After an eventful journey where the crew sighted the US Naval research vessel SBX-1.^[17][18] and ran out of food requiring a helicopter resupply ^[19] from Wayne Lackey^[20] 189 Days, 10 Hours, 55 Minutes after the pair set out from Japan they rowed their boat Bojangles underneath the Golden Gate Bridge on Friday 13 November 2009.^[19][21]

In 2010, Martin and Dawson were given a Guinness World Record for being the first team to row across the North Pacific Ocean.^[22] The footage they filmed on their trip was turned into a documentary presented by James Cracknell for Discovery Channel and was aired for the first time on May 10, 2012.^[23]

In 2011, Martin founded New Ocean Wave, to manage the Great Pacific Race from Monterey, California to Honolulu, Hawaii, to be run in 2014.^[24] Accomplished ocean rower Roz Savage is also part of the New Ocean Wave organising team as a race consultant.

In 2013, Martin organized the NOMAN Barcelona to Ibiza race on behalf of the HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation. This was the first ocean rowing race to take place on the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and saw two identical boats of five rowers race.^[25]

References

External links

• Association of Ocean Rowers
• New Ocean Wave - The Great Pacific Race