Nationals stand in solidarity with Team Antigua Island Girls

The Team Antigua Island Girls received an outpouring of love and support via social media from members of the public, as the five-woman all-black team embarked on their 3,000-mile Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge from San Sebastian, La Gomera, Canary Islands in Spain to English Harbour, Antigua on Wednesday morning.
The Antigua and Barbuda Marine Association (ABMA) was one of those entities who joined in solidarity with the female team – Kevinia Francis, Junella King, Elvira Bell, Christal Clashing and Samara Emanuel.
The ABMA, for the first 12 hours of the Island Girls’ journey on Wednesday, organized a rowing event at the Antigua Yacht Club where four rowing machines were set up and individuals invited to row for 15 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour.
For each time slot, various monetary donations were made – $28 for 15 minutes, $35 for 30 minutes, and $50 for one hour.
These donations will be given to the official charity of the Team Antigua Island Girls, the Cottage of Hope, a group home which offers short- and long-term residency to girls who are abused, neglected or orphaned.
Media personality Petra Williams shared her solidarity challenge via social media, saying she will do pushups every day until the female rowers arrive back home. Williams also issued that challenge to the public.
The Island Girls, according to the 2018 Race Tracker, were placed 27th out of 28 teams, as of 12:39p.m. on Thursday, December 13 – a dramatic plunge, given that the female rowers started in third position at 10:45 a.m. the day before.
With this setback, the Island Girls are expected to arrive at the English Harbour dock on April 20th at 6:17 .m.
Despite already holding the record for the only all-black female team, the Island Girls have indicated their intent to break the female team record by finishing the challenge.
British team, Row Like A Girl, holds that record, having finished the challenge in 40 days, eight hours and 26 minutes in 2016.