Brothers complete world's toughest rowing race in memory of firefighter

From forty feet-high waves and sweltering temperatures through to malfunctioning equipment and an on-board fire, it proved to be a treacherous test of endurance which even the most hardened seafarers would struggle with.

But two novice rowers from Dunblane were celebrating today after completing a 3,000 mile journey across the Atlantic in memory of a firefighter who died on duty.

Brothers Kris and Blair Elliot were reunited with their loved ones in the Caribbean enclave of Antigua, nearly eight weeks after they set off from La Gomera in the Canary Islands.

Along the way, they endured severe sea sickness, blisters and extreme weather conditions which forced several of their fellow competitors to abandon their efforts.

The successful crossing is made even more remarkable by the fact that until recently, the siblings’ combined rowing experience extended to loafing on the sofa, watching Team GB’s medal winning athletes at the London Olympics.

As well as representing a remarkable personal achievement, the brothers’ triumph in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge has helped to raise funds for The Fire Fighters Charity.

Kris, a crew manager with Scottish Fire and Rescue, lost his friend and colleague, John Noble, after he was killed in a road traffic accident while responding to an emergency call in 2008.

Completing the world’s premier event in ocean rowing in Mr Noble’s memory, he said, was a moment to savour.

“It’s been a real privilege to come out here and to be able to undertake a challenge like this,” he explained.

“Being brothers on the boat only made the experience even better, and we had some incredible days out there.”

Every day, the brothers would follow a strict routine between 9am and 1am, rowing for an hour straight before resting for an hour. At nighttime, Kris would start a four hour-long solo shift at 1am while Blair, a North Sea engineer, caught some shut eye, before they switched places at 5am. They burned around 8,000 calories a day and lost a fifth of their body weight during the adventure.

Hairy moments along the way included realising their automatic identification system was not working, and being forced to extinguish a fire after after a speaker they were using to listen to music overheated and caught alight.

Yet for all the testing times they went through in the mid-Atlantic, the brothers - competing as Team Noble - seldom lost their high spirits, even appropriating The Proclaimers’ most famous song, changing the lyrics to ‘But I would row 500 miles / And I would row 500 more’.

On Christmas day, when they were faced with a lunch of tinned turkey, they managed to catch a dorado fish, which they made into sushi and washed down with a small dram.

One night, however, they were less fortunate, as one of the flying fish darted out of the water, slapping Kris in the face as he attempted to set pace.

Kris added: “There was one day all these dolphins came up to the boat and swam around us for ages, which is a moment we’ll never forget.

“We just took the challenge step by step and day by day and now we’re here and it’s amazing to have finally arrived in Antigua.”