How to train to triumph at the World’s Toughest Row
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What started as a crazy idea, turned into the realization of a lifelong dream for adventurers JP Briner, Martin Hall, Angelo Wilkie-Page and Matt Botha. As Team Ocean Mavericks, the four friends will race across the Atlantic Ocean in the World’s Toughest Race. Find out what drives them, how they prepared and what they’ll miss the most on their 4,800 km journey.
On 12 December 2025, JP Birner, Martin, Angelo, and Matt will embark on a life-changing adventure as they take their places on the start line of the World’s Toughest Row, joining 43 teams of 20 nations. It’s a rowing competition that takes them across the Atlantic Ocean and more than 3000 miles west from the Canary Islands to Antigua and Barbuda, demanding months of intense planning, training and preparations.
The seed of this adventure was planted at 2 AM during a 24-hour adventure race. Exhausted and deep in the Pondoland wilderness, the team found themselves chatting about the World’s Toughest Row. Of course, Martin and Angelo were immediately intrigued.
By the time they reached the finish, they were already googling everything they could find. And on the long drive home, the idea stopped being a joke and started becoming a plan. Before they even reached their houses, the commitment had quietly taken hold and the first step of the journey had been taken.
Ocean rowing means no engines, no sails, no shortcuts. Just muscle, mindset, and miles of open water. The ocean is a place that strips life down to its essentials and reminds you exactly who you are, and who you want to be. For all four Mavericks, there is this irresistible pull of the ocean itself with its wildness, its unpredictability and its vastness. During the race, the team may encounter waves soaring six meters high with wind and weather being some of the most difficult factors to adapt to.
In all that I do, I seek the satisfaction of achieving something meaningful… Extreme challenges offer a deeper sense of purpose.
Despite its dangers, for JP, rowing an ocean had always been on his to-do list. It was one of those dreams tucked away for “one day.” When the moment came, he realized one day had arrived. Martin explains that extreme challenges offer a rare kind of clarity: “In all that I do, I seek the satisfaction of achieving something meaningful… Extreme challenges simply offer a deeper sense of purpose.”
The World’s Toughest Race deserves the label of extreme challenge as its competitors are estimated to row about 1.5 million strokes which means that each crew member will burn more than 5,000 calories each day. In their 40 to 50 days at sea, every racer is expected to lose about eight kg, all while having to drink desalinate seawater and eat freeze-dried food.
Team Ocean Mavericks will compete in a Rannoch RX45 christened Shayamanzi. Its name derives from Zulu and means “hit the water”. While providing a functional and safe environment, the nine-meter rowing boat does not offer luxuries. For example, it only features two narrow beds in which they have to lie straight to avoid unbalancing the boat. To top it all off, the adventurers must use a bucket instead of a toilet.
What sounds like a nightmare to most is nothing too unusual for Team Ocean Mavericks. All team members are skilled adventurers with canoe marathons, barefoot summits of Kilimanjaro and other incredible feats under their belt.
However, preparing for the World’s Toughest Row has been an exceptional full-time commitment that reshaped daily life, mindset and routine. It’s been about learning to embrace discomfort intentionally and repeatedly. They’ve trained at odd hours, rowed when exhausted, and pushed through sessions when motivation was low, preparing their minds for the relentless two-hours-on, two-hours-off rotation they’ll face at sea. Every session has been part of conditioning themselves to function under pressure, fatigue, and unpredictability which are the exact conditions they’ll meet in the middle of the Atlantic.
EXR prepared us for what the Atlantic will demand: the mental resilience to keep going.
While training at sea prepared for the on-the-water circumstances, erging at the gym helped build strength and endurance. It’s for a good reason that Concept2 is an official partner of the World’s Toughest Row and EXR a supporter of the Ocean Mavericks. The team shares: “Rowing virtually alongside our teammates made even the toughest erg days feel lighter, more motivating, and honestly, a lot more fun. The EXR app brings a sense of teamwork into a sport that can otherwise feel very solo. Without it, indoor rowing is just you and the erg. With EXR, you’re training alongside teammates, analyzing performance in real time, and pushing harder because you can see exactly where you are and where you should be.”
To stay on track of his performance and long-term development, Angelo chose his power output in watts as a key metric. “When the wattage feels strong and consistent, we know we’re on track. Split times and heart rate also help us understand pacing and endurance over long sessions, but watts have become the benchmark we compare most often. For big challenges like ocean rows, ultra-endurance events, or multi-day races, this kind of data is invaluable.”
We’re old enough to appreciate the privilege of doing something extraordinary, but young enough to give it everything we’ve got.
Like for many athletes facing the biggest challenge of their lives, the question of age arises. The team agrees: "We don’t see age as a barrier, but as experience. The years behind us have given us perspective, resilience, and a clearer understanding of who we are and what truly matters. That’s exactly why this feels like the right time to take on something of this magnitude. We’re old enough to appreciate the privilege of doing something extraordinary, but young enough to give it everything we’ve got. We wouldn’t want to be doing this decades from now, when we’d miss the chance to take what we learn out there and bring it straight back into our families, our work, our communities, and the way we show up in the world.”
When asked what they will miss the most, Angelo answers: “I will miss my wife’s home-cooked meals.” This heartfelt sense of everything precious the team is leaving behind highlights just how much support stands behind their journey. Especially at home, the past few months have been a constant balancing act of managing family life and still making space for the time, focus, and energy required to train, study, and prepare for every safety requirement.
Everyone supporting the team have been so invested and unwavering in their belief that they now carry their support with a deep sense of responsibility. Martin proclaims: “I’ve come to understand that the challenge itself matters less than the people you share it with and the purpose behind it. If rowing across the ocean does nothing more than teach my children to stand firm and never give up, that alone would be enough to make the struggle worthwhile.”
Follow Team Ocean Mavericks on the World's Toughest Row leaderboards!
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