Rowing For A Cause: Team Antigua Island Girls To Brave Pacific Challenge For Worthy Cause

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(From left) Members of Team Antigua Island Girls, Samara Emmanuel, Kevinia Francis, Elvira Bell, and Christal Clashing
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By Neto Baptiste

Amidst the hype and excitement that comes with preparing to row the Pacific Ocean in the inaugural 2023 Pacific Challenge, Team Antigua Island Girls will also take on the mammoth task of raising close to EC$1 million for charity.

Specifically, the quartet which includes Christal Clashing, Elvira Bell, Kevinia Francis and Samara Emmanuel will be raising funds towards building a home for girls in conflict with the law.

Francis said the cause is one the group is highly passionate about. 

“In speaking to the Ministry of Social Transformation, we have identified that as an immediate need, especially with what is going on right now in the schools with even pre-teens. If we can find a safe environment to have them go through some therapy or rehab, just to give them a better opportunity and a better direction to help them change at an early age, rather than have them repeat the same cycle over and over. So that’s something we really want to see through the end so that we can have better young girls, better citizens and better opportunities,” she said. 

Francis said members of the public can contribute in several ways including via the group’s account at the Caribbean Union Bank (CUB), account #2000-4631, or via their GoFundMe account.

“To get the building alone up would be about $600,000 to $800,000, and then we want to also be able to provide resources with therapy. So we have formed our own charity called Team Island Girls that will continue to do different fundraisers to help support the funding,” she added.

Emmanuel said the team is hoping to complete its newest challenge in under 40 days. She added that having the expertise of a double world record holder, Dutchman Mark Slats at their disposal is an added boost.

“A lot of the things we know now and a lot of the knowledge that Mark himself has imparted to us, if we had that knowledge before I think we would have been, if not in the top three … a lot higher up in the ranks, because simple things like technique, slowing down your pace, that helps you to go longer.

“Now that we have been taught the strokes per minute that we should aim for, we find that we are rowing for three hours and not feeling anything because we are doing things the right way,” she said. 

Slats holds the solo world record set in the 2017-18 Atlantic Challenge and, with Kai Weidmer, the doubles record set in 2020-21.

The Pacific Challenge is set to start on April 12 and will take the 20 competing teams some 2,800 nautical miles from Monterey Bay in California to Hanalei Bay on Kauai, Hawaii.

To date, the team is sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism, Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, Budget Marine, Jumby Bay Fund, and Cool & Smooth.

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