Chris Martin (rower)

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

1998 Ottensheim, Austria : World Junior Championships JM4+ 3rd^[1]

1999 Plovdiv, Bulgaria : World Junior Championships JM4- 2nd^[1]

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

2001 Ottensheim, Austria : U23 World Championships M4- 2nd^[1]

2001 Lucerne, Switzerland : World Rowing Championships M4+ 3rd^[1]

Martin also competed in the World Cup races in 2002^[1] but without repeating his earlier medal winning form.

2002 Nottingham, United Kingdom : Commonwealth Regatta M2- 3rd^[2]

Ocean rowing

 

Martin rowing Pacific Pete in the 2005 Atlantic Rowing Race

Having been dropped from the GB squad,^{[clarification needed]} Martin turned his attention to ocean rowing and in 2005/06 he rowed across the Atlantic Ocean solo, as part of the Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race^[3] 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.^[4] 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).^[5]

Martin remained an active member within the ocean rowing community and was one of the co-founders of the Association of Ocean Rowers.^[6]

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.^[7]

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.^[8] After an eventful journey where the crew sighted the US Naval research vessel SBX-1.^[9][10] and ran out of food requiring a helicopter resupply ^[11] from Wayne Lackey^[12] 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.^[11][13]

In 2010, Martin and Dawson were awarded a Guinness World Record for being the first team to row across the North Pacific Ocean.^[14] 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 10 May 2012.^[15]

In 2011, Martin founded the New Ocean Wave,^[16] to manage the Great Pacific Race from Monterey,^[17] California to Honolulu, Hawaii, to be run in 2014.^[18] Accomplished ocean rower Roz Savage is also part of the New Ocean Wave organising team as a race consultant.

In 2013, Martin organized the biennial NOMAN Barcelona to Ibiza race,^[19] on behalf of the HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation.^[20] 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.^[21] Future editions of the event saw up to 6 boats participating and races occur both from Barcelona to Ibiza and a return leg of the race from Ibiza back to Barcelona.

In 2014, Martin was the Race Director for the first ever Great Pacific Race and oversaw the organisation of the event heading up the race management team. The Great Pacific Race made history with 14 Guinness World Records being applied for following this successful event.^[22]

In 2015, Martin became part of the steering committee for the Ocean Rowing Society.^[23]

In 2016 and 2018 Martin returned as the Race Director for the Great Pacific Race overseeing 11 crews attempt at completing the route.

References

1. . RowingOne.com. World Rowing. Archived from the original on 15 January 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
2. "Commonwealth Regatta Results". RowTv archive. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
3. . Atlantic Rowing Race 2005. Woodvale Events. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
4. "Atlantic E-W Solo Rows". Ocean Rowing Society. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
5. . Earth & Space Research. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
6. "Association of Ocean Rowers – About us". Retrieved 27 December 2011.
7. "Marines finish Paris training row". BBC. 4 September 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
8. "And They're Off (p142)". Golden Gate Endeavour. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
9. "Day 99 (p323)". Golden Gate Endeavour. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
10. Simonson, Eric. "Rowing up Everest 189 days". Retrieved 22 June 2011.
11. Henderson, Peter (13 November 2009). "British pair rows across Pacific, with detours". Reuters. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
12. "Day 185-The best day so far(p460)". Golden Gate Endeavour. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
13. "Pacific Rows". Ocean Rowing.Com. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
14. "First team to row the Pacific Ocean West to East". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
15. "Discovery Channel – Rowing the Pacific". Discovery UK. Retrieved 28 March 2012.
16. "Home". newoceanwave.com.
17. . Archived from the original on 6 May 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
18. . New Ocean Wave. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
19. . Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
20. "Home". analcancerfoundation.org.
21. "NOMAN IS AN ISLAND: A race to raise awareness about HPV". 14 June 2013.
22. "Latest News". New Ocean Wave. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
23. "Ocean Rowing Society – About Us". Ocean Rowing Society. Retrieved 20 November 2015.

External links

• New Ocean Wave
• Chris Martin at World Rowing