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Meet the Adventurers of the Year: Oarsman Leven Brown

ByMary Anne Potts
December 24, 2010
2 min read

Each day we will feature one of the 2010 Adventures of the Year here on our blog. Get to know them all in our photo gallery, then vote for your favorite for the People’s Choice award—every day. You can even vote for a new favorite each day, if you can’t pick just one. Photograph courtesy of Leven Brown

The Oarsman

Leven Brown and his team rowed across the Atlantic faster than anyone, ever.

The North Atlantic is not a kind ocean. So unpredictably wild and unforgiving are its seas that after a pair of Norwegians rowed across in 1896, their record stood for another 114 years. Jump to July 2010—a two-man boat filled with four bearded oarsmen leaves New York and hits England nearly 12 days faster than the Norwegians managed. Its crew, a duo of Brits, a Faroese man and an Irishman, consists of Leven Brown, Ray Carroll, Don Lennox, and Livar Nysted. Their hands are cracked and swollen and their rears are so sore that sitting has become an exquisite test of pain management. They stand as often as possible. In all ways they are exhausted and haven’t slept more than two hours at a time in over six weeks. Their skipper, Leven Brown, relates how they pulled off such a voyage. —By Ryan Bradley

Read more about Leven Brown >>

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