Taunton brothers, Hugo and Rufus Mitchell-Heggs have completed the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Rowing Challenge with their teams, HMS Oardacious and Enginoars.
The Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge is widely known as the world’s toughest row; starting in the Canary Islands and ending in Antigua & Barbuda.
The challenge involved competing against more than 35 teams, rowing for two hours on, and two hours off for 24 hours a day. The competition is judged on a variety of factors ranging from fitness to boat design.
Hugo and HMS Oardacious reached the finish line in Antigua in the dark after 35 days, 17 hours and 19 minutes at sea.
Rufus and the Enginoars were not far behind with a time of 36 days, 8 hours and 57 minutes.
Rufus visited Huish ahead of the challenge to give a RICHTalk to current students about the fundraising, engineering and training involved.
Rufus, now a Bio-Engineer, studied Maths, Chemistry and Biology A Levels at Huish from 2011-13, alongside French and Physics AS Levels and an EPQ project on Synthetic Technology.
He is now working towards a PhD in Neurotechnology at Imperial College, London and the University of Edinburgh. His desire to compete in the Atlantic Challenge came after witnessing the atmosphere at the 2019 Atlantic race where Hugo first competed.
Richard Huish College could not be more proud of the former students.