Image credit: Elaine Theaker
Elaine Theaker only came to rowing late in life, but now she's claimed two world records in the sport after rowing first the Atlantic and then the Pacific.
In 2018, Theaker was part of the oldest team of women to row the Atlantic. Despite enduring the worst weather conditions in 20 years and vowing never to do anything like it again, Theaker, from South Wales, signed up to row the Pacific five years later.
It meant that in 2023 she celebrated her 60th birthday on the 2,8000 mile challenge and became the oldest woman to row both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Theaker, a retired solicitor, never thought she would end up in the Guinness Book of Records twice!
“I hated sports at school,” she laughs. “All I wanted to do was sit on the sofa and watch TV.”
Theaker focused on her career running her own legal practice, became a mother at the age of 40 and had no desire to take part in any adventures.
“But sometimes something happens in life which makes you completely change course,” she says. “When my son started school in Monmouth, I would drive him there and see members of the rowing club out practising on the river. I really fancied having a go.
"It wasn’t about getting fit, it was about being out on the water.
“Then I spotted an advert for a rowing course at my local leisure centre, and I signed up. It was only a six-week course, and I thought it would be a great way of finding out whether it was something I wanted to do.”
Theaker says anyone thinking about trying rowing should contact their local club. You can find them through British Rowing.
She says: “They can give you all the information you need on any courses they are running that will teach you how to row. Then take a deep breath, sign up and go and have some fun on the water.”
Theaker completed the course and then joined the rowing club. As she got fitter, she started entering competitions.
“I won a few of them and really enjoyed myself," she said. "Then I was watching television one night and there was an item about a group of middle-aged women who were rowing the Atlantic.
“I looked at them and I could identify with them. They were like me, and I thought ‘I could do that’.
“Perhaps it was a midlife crisis, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it.”
So Theaker went to meet the women. With their encouragement, she became even more determined.
“None of my local rowing friends were keen to take on the challenge,” she said. “But that didn’t put me off, so I started searching and finally teamed up with two women from Shropshire.”
In Autumn 2016 the trio, Theaker, Di Carrington and Sharon Magrath put down a deposit on a boat they christened Poppy and started fundraising and looking for sponsors. Theaker says: “When I first told people what I wanted to do they laughed. I’d never done anything like this in my life!
“Even when we got the team together, they still didn’t think it was going to happen. But when the boat arrived suddenly people started to take notice – it’s also when they told me how dangerous it could be.”
The three women set out on The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in December 2017. Participants cross 3,000 miles of ocean from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, to Antigua in the Caribbean. The journey could take anything from 30 to more than 90 days. The conditions the women faced were the worst in the history of the challenge.
“The whole crossing was tough, with winds of up to 40 knots (a force nine gale),” says Theaker. “We shared out the rowing and chores, so would spend about five hours on the oars, then share other chores, so Di was our skipper and took charge of navigation, Sharon took charge of the food, and I did the boat maintenance. As the days went on, we fitted into a daily rhythm.
“Then on the 59th and penultimate day and with land nearly in sight, we were rowing through awful conditions. That’s when I saw it. A wave the height of a three-storey building. It was like a wall of water bearing down on us.”
Theaker and another crew member were thrown out of the boat and only saved by their safety harnesses. They clambered back in, but the boat was hit by another wave, and they were thrown out again.
She says: “The water had thrown us about like we were in a washing machine. We were all alive, but the second time we were thrown out I was injured, and we had a damaged boat.
“We retreated to the cabin, and made an emergency call on our satellite phone. Rescue teams told us we were drifting way off course, but due to the storm they couldn’t reach us. We had no option but to get back on the oars.
“We dug deeper than we’ve ever dug before. We were rowing for our lives to get through that storm. We rowed for eight hours straight with just adrenaline keeping us going. I can’t describe the relief we all felt when we saw land.”
Theaker’s husband Steve and son Che were waiting for her in Antigua, but at the end of the epic challenge she could barely walk, and X-rays revealed she had damaged her pelvis.
Yet despite the high drama she says there were incredible moments.
“We rowed next to pods of dolphins, saw whales, turtles and flying fish. The sunsets took our breath away and at night we saw meteor showers and shooting stars.”
Theaker and her two teammates broke three world records, becoming the oldest women’s crew and first all-female threesome to achieve the feat. Team member Dianne Carrington, then 62, won the record for being the oldest woman to complete the challenge.
Theaker says: “It was the toughest thing I’d ever done, and I’d lost 14 kilos (31lbs) in weight. We had all suffered from nausea and sea sickness and had found it hard to eat – snacking rather than eating the dehydrated food we should have done. We ate far fewer calories than we needed and lost a total of 45 kilos in bodyweight between the three of us.
“When I got home, I told everyone, even my local newspaper, that I would never do anything like it again.”
Theaker ran her own law firm at the time, so she went straight back to work with little time to adjust or take on board the enormity of what she had achieved.
Fast forward five years and despite promising ‘never again’, Theaker geared up for an even bigger challenge - she signed up with a new team to row 2,800 miles across the Pacific.
She says her change of heart was all because of lockdown. “I had cabin fever, so I messaged my friend Andy, another rower, and asked him if he fancied doing a challenge,” she says.
“I wasn’t sure if he would take me seriously, but he did. After that it gained momentum and suddenly it started happening.”
She was joined by crew members Andy Warner, Alison Wannell, Neil Blackeby and Huw Carden.
“Four of the five team members were over 50 and the youngest was 44,’” says Theaker. “Between us we all had skills and experience."
The team flew to Monterey, California, in May 2023 and she celebrated her 60th birthday a few days after they started the challenge in June, swapping birthday cake for dehydrated fish in parsley sauce.
The team lost a rudder early in the challenge, and they were marooned for five days, buffeted by huge waves, until the sea calmed enough for one of the team to get into the water and fit the replacement.
They completed the mammoth row in 51 days, five hours and 44 minutes, and Theaker was greeted by her son Che when they arrived in Hawaii. In all they broke three world records -
Theaker became the oldest woman to row across both oceans, team member Huw became the oldest man to do the Pacific crossing, at 63, and they also became the first ever team of five to row the Pacific.
Theaker says it is never too late to follow your dreams.
“I was always the one who was picked last for the school netball team. I was never interested in sport and I’m still not," she says.
"My message is not to let yourself be defined by who you were when you were younger. We all change as we age, we worry less about what other people think and we realise that we have less time left. So if we have a dream then we can’t keep waiting for tomorrow.
“A big challenge can take the form of many different things. What is a big challenge to one person might be a walk in the park for the next. And talking of parks, if someone asked me to do a Parkrun, that would feel like a huge challenge for me, as I don’t think I can run more than 2km without stopping.
“So, I think it’s all about pushing your personal limits - wherever those limits might be.”
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