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Loughborough father and daughter celebrate Atlantic crossing

Generation Gap Roger and Brittany StaniforthGeneration Gap
Roger and Brittany Staniforth said they had managed to share a small cabin without arguing

A father and daughter team have raised about £40,000 and scored a competition first by rowing across the Atlantic.

Roger and Brittany Staniforth, from Loughborough, battled exhaustion, 40ft (12m) waves and even having the boat holed by a grumpy marlin.

They arrived in Antigua in the early hours of Wednesday having covered the 3,000-mile (4,828 km) trip in just under 46 days.

They are the first father and daughter to complete the challenge.

Team Generation Gap - named to reflect the age difference between father, 59, and daughter, 28 - set off from San Sebastián de La Gomera in the Canary Islands on 12 December as part of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

Talisker Atlantic Challenge Generation Gap arrivingTalisker Atlantic Challenge
The other two members of the team got engaged during the voyage

Crew mates Victoria Micó Egea and skipper Edward Raymont got engaged mid-voyage and Ms Micó Egea set her own record by becoming the first Spanish woman to row the Atlantic.

The team said they saw whales, dolphins and killer whales during the trip - but only about five or six other vessels.

The wildlife became a problem when a marlin - a 9-13ft (3-4m) fish equipped with a spike on its nose - decided to pick a fight with their boat.

Roger and Brittany Staniforth
Brittany Staniforth said it may take a day or two to realise how tired they are

"We heard a commotion and suddenly we were thrown 45 degrees off course," said Ms Staniforth.

"There was a horrible crunching noise so I looked out and saw this marlin going around the boat.

"Then on checking the boat we found 4in (10cm) of marlin beak sticking through the hull and into the bed where Victoria would have been sleeping had she not been rowing."

Working in two-hour shifts, Ms Staniforth said the most sleep she had managed in one go through the entire trip was just over an hour.

"I think it will take a couple of days to realise how tired we really are," she said.

Generation Gap came ninth out of 21 teams in the timed challenge, with Row4Cancer, a team from the Netherlands, winning in just under 33 days.

Money was raised for Mind, The Royal Marines Charity, Rural Assistance Nepal and Women's Aid.

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