June 12, 2020
Author:
Rachel Parsons

Lionheart Round Britain Row

We’re hugely excited to be supporting Duncan Roy and Gus Barton in their imminent Lionheart Round Britain Row. The pair will be setting off from Burnham this Sunday to row unsupported around mainland Britain under the #lionheartroundbritainrow banner.

The Lionheart Round Britain Row started in 2017 when a Rannoch team rowed around the coast of Britain in an R45 called Lionheart. Duncan and Gus will be flying the Lionheart flag this year in R25 “Lily”- kindly lent to them by The Seablings. Next year, Rannoch’s very own Roxy RX80 will be following in their footsteps (places available for anyone who is interested, see our Roxy website page!)

Lionheart Round Britain Row is an initiative set up by our very own Charlie Pitcher to raise awareness of the natural beauty of our coastline and to promote organisations, clubs and institutions who work tirelessly to keep our coasts clean and available for recreational purposes. The preservation of coastal wildlife is also a large part of the project.

Duncan and Gus, our Lionheart 2020 ambassadors, were due to be rowing across the Pacific Ocean with Latitude 35 as part of the Great Pacific Race this summer. Disappointingly, due to COVID-19, they have had to postpone their row until next year.

With Rannoch’s full support, the guys have worked tirelessly to pull together this row at such short notice so that their hard work training and preparing do not go to waste. They have chosen to raise money for two brilliant causes - NHS Charities Together and Sport in Mind

Keep an eye on www.rowingroy.com for updates of how to track them during their journey and donate to their chosen charities.

We wish Duncan and Gus all the best for their row and look forward to sharing their blogs and photos of our stunning coastline with you over the next few weeks.

UPDATE 31st July

The Lionheart Round Britain Row 2020 has come to an end.

Gus and Duncan had to make the difficult decision to finish their amazing effort on Wednesday afternoon as they simply ran out of time. Gus is due to be best man at his brother’s wedding tomorrow and he wouldn’t miss it for anything.

The boys had the pairs record of 41 days in their minds to beat, and had 45 days available to them so they had a pretty good shot at getting there. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans for them and they ended up spending 10 days in total stuck on anchor making no progress.

They knew the challenges that they would face but chose to go for it anyway, and after all of the hard work and preparation that went into their Pacific row which sadly couldn’t go ahead, both of the guys have been selfless by putting it all to good use and raising money for their chosen charities.

At the time of posting the boys have managed to raise a massive £11,746.16 for NHS Charities Together and Sport in MindDuncan and Gus rowed 1279 nautical miles in 44 days 18 hours and 2 minutes.

We are so proud to call them our Lionheart Round Britain Row 2020 ambassadors. Congratulations guys, what an achievement!

A few words from Duncan: “Our boat Lily stood up to every single test that was thrown at us. Whether that was fighting through the rough white water of the Ramsey Sound, battling the huge over falls off The Mull of Galloway or clawing our way repeatedly into headwinds and against tides ... no matter what the situation she was absolutely bomb proof.

We have been extremely fortunate with the huge amount of support been given to us by the entire ocean rowing community but no more so than Rannoch Adventure. With a 2 week time frame to pull together this project Rannoch pulled out every single stop to facilitate, prepare us for and equip us for our expedition. We cannot thank you enough for all of your support before, during and after! There is a reason you are the world leading ocean rowing company and it was an absolute honour to represent the Lionheart Round Britain Row (even if we didn’t quite get all the way round).”

Lionheart Round Britain Row 2021 in Roxy - get in touch if you want to be part of this adventure
The 2017 Lionheart Round Britain Row
Gus & Duncan at the end of their epic Lionheart Row