2026 Winner
LACHLAN, JAMIE AND EWAN MACLEAN
Brothers who broke the world record for rowing non-stop and unsupported across the Pacific, raising £1 million for clean water projects
The trio, from Edinburgh, set the record for rowing non-stop and unsupported – meaning they could not land on an island to resupply, or accept help from any passing boats.
They spent almost 140 days at sea, covering 9,750 miles from Peru to Australia in their carbon fibre boat, called Rose Emily, in memory of their sister who died in 1996, six-and-a half months into their mother’s pregnancy.
Apart from the gruelling physical challenge, the brothers faced violent tropical storms, and at one point Lachlan, 27, was swept overboard by a giant wave and had to be rescued by his siblings.
They finally made land in Cairns after 139 days, seven hours and 17 minutes at sea, beating the previous record of 162 days, set in 2014.
The brothers had to carry all their supplies for the epic voyage, including 500kg of freeze dried food and 75kg of oats. Lachlan said the “final resort” if they ran out of all their supplies was a fishing rod.
Jamie, 32, said: “Things got tough towards the end and we seriously thought we might run out of food. Despite how exhausted we were, we had to step up a gear and make it before supplies ran out.”
Ewan, 34, added: “This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I couldn’t have even contemplated it without my brothers.”
Asked how they coped with spending so long cooped up together, Lachlan said: “Our super power is being brothers. You can be totally frank with each other and we obviously have so much shared history, and that maybe means you are less likely to fall out.”