Andrew ‘Mos’ Morris determined to finish expedition and honour charity pledge to raise funds for young people to discover rowing
LAUNCH OF UK ROW ON SATURDAY, JULY 7TH: PHOTOCALL 1PM
British adventurer Andrew “Mos” Morris, who was forced to abandon plans to row the North Atlantic because of icebergs, is to complete the final leg of his expedition despite the setback.
The 6ft 2in rower from Newark, Nottinghamshire had originally planned to row 2,200 miles from Newfoundland, Canada all the way into central London, creating a new world record and arriving in the capital in time for the Olympic Games.
Now Morris, 48, determined to complete at least the UK leg of the journey, will row from the west coast of Britain to London, starting in Clevedon, North Somerset on Saturday, July 7 and travel up the Bristol Channel, through inland waterways including the Kennet and Avon canal, and the River Thames.
The trip will raise money to buy a fleet of rowing boats for able-bodied and disabled young people, part of the OAR Legacy, which is aimed at encouraging young people to get out on the water and broaden their horizons. The OAR Legacy fund is being administered by The Rowing Foundation, a registered charity whose purpose is to promote the participation in rowing of young people (those under 18 or still in full-time education) and the disabled of all ages.
Playing a key support role on the row will be teams from The Amber Foundation, a residential charity that offers a fresh start to homeless unemployed young adults and helps them gain employment and accommodation. Among supporters of The Amber Foundation is the multi-millionaire former Formula 1 team owner, business guru and TV pundit Eddie Jordan.
Andrew Morris’s boat, Bojangles, which is 23ft long and 6ft wide and is manufactured from lightweight Carbon-Kevlar, has been shipped back to the UK by OAR sponsor Eimskip Inc. and will depart from Cleveden on Saturday, July 7 at 05.00hrs.
*** Media are invited to meet Andrew Morris at the end of his first day’s rowing, on SATURDAY, JULY 7, AT 12 NOON, by the water’s edge at the mouth of the Bristol Channel, at The Baltic Wharf, Cumberland Road, Bristol BS16. ***
Among those scheduled to join Morris on board to help him later on during the row will be Chris Martin, a former member of the British rowing squad and one of the two men to have successfully crossed the Pacific in Bojangles, a feat he completed in 2009.
Andrew Morris said today: “My sense of British grit and determination and a refusal to be defeated have convinced me to finish on a high and to honour our pledge to raise funds for the next generation of British rowers and adventurers.
“In this Olympic year, we wanted to do something to support the legacy of sport and get young people out on the water to enjoy rowing. Rowing has a great history in Britain and some of our greatest Olympic moments have been due to our success in the sport. So, this is our way of leaving a legacy to be remembered long after the OAR Project rowing challenge is over.
“It was a great shame the North Atlantic crossing wasn’t possible. We set out to do something inspiring, not something stupid. This year, the risks were simply too great.”
The North Atlantic row was called off after Canadian ice experts warned about the scale of local ice movements. This followed an event two years ago in which a large chunk of ice, calculated by scientists to be 40 metres thick, broke away from the glacier in Greenland.
The 251-square-kilometre “ice island”, which separated from Greenland’s north-western coast, was the largest iceberg to form in the Arctic since 1962. Recent weather conditions have worsened the ice break-up.
Morris added: “The waters off Newfoundland were filled with fragmented shards of ice or ‘bergy bits’, icebergs in the water. If our 24-foot rowing boat were to have collided with the largely submerged ice shards, some of which weighed up to 10 tonnes, it could have proved catastrophic and risked capsizing the vessel or fracturing its hull.”
Two other ocean rowers have recently been rescued during their attempts. British adventurer Sarah Outen, a 27-year-old Oxford graduate from Ashwell, Hertfordshire, was rescued by the Japanese coastguard after three days of battling 30ft waves during a tropical storm. She had been stranded nearly 600 miles off the coast of Japan after capsizing several times during her attempt to row across the Pacific Ocean.
And Charlie Martell, 41, a Royal Engineer Commando serving with the Territorial Army in Gloucestershire, also had to abandon his record-breaking attempt to row across the Pacific. He was left floating 700 miles from land when a tropical storm smashed into his boat, leaving him unable to continue.
For the North Atlantic leg of the expedition, Andrew Morris teamed up with fellow rower and environmental campaigner Roz Savage, a multi Guinness World Record holder, and the first woman in the world to row three oceans, the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans
However, Savage has now had to bow out of the UK leg after having signed a major book deal. She has been asked to chronicle the true-life story of her heroic solo voyage across the Pacific Ocean, a feat she completed in 2010.
Cheshire-born Savage, 44, who is the daughter of a clergyman, said she regretted that her writing commitments now prevented her from joining the row.
She said: “I am sorry not to be able to join Andrew on his UK expedition. I would like to wish him and everyone on the team enormous success and good luck in their UK row. It is in a very worthy cause.”
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| INTERVIEW & PHOTOCALL | |
| When | Saturday 7th July |
| Where | By the water’s edge at the mouth of the Bristol Channel, at The Baltic Wharf, Cumberland Road, Bristol BS16 |
| Time | 1pm |
| What | Andrew Morris arrives having completed 7-hour row at the end of his first day |
| Who | Andrew will be accompanied by a Gig and rowers from the Cleveden Pilot Gig Club |
| Contact For all media inquiries, more information, pictures or to arrange an interview with Andrew Morris, please contact: |
Alec Lom alec@aleclom.com 07802 401302 orNaomi Coe naomi@oar2012.com 07851 601121 |
NOTES TO EDITORS
The Charity
The OAR Project is about much more than rowing. It’s the year of the Olympics and a time for everyone to get involved in the Great British spirit. We’re working in conjunction with The Rowing Foundation to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds get onto the water and try out rowing for themselves.
Find out more about the OAR Legacy and how you can make a donation here.
1. Go to www.justgiving.com/OARProject and follow the instructions to make a donation. You can leave your own message for the crew and if you’re a UK taxpayer, The Rowing Foundation will be able to claim back GiftAid, and boost your support by 25 per cent.
2. Donate by text – send a text message with the code OARP99 and the amount you’d like to donate (£x) to 70070. If you’re a UK taxpayer, just follow the simple instructions on the text you’ll receive in order for The Rowing Foundation to be able to claim back GiftAid and boost your support by 25 per cent.
Money donated to The OAR Project Legacy fund will be administered by The Rowing Foundation and used to buy boats. Rowing clubs around the UK will be able to put in an application to fund up to 50 per cent of the value of a boat. Primary use of the boat will be for able bodied and disabled young people to get onto the water and have the chance to try out rowing. Further details about the scheme and information about how to apply will be available on The Rowing Foundation website www.therowingfoundation.org.uk.
The OAR Project is at www.oar2012.com
The Amber Foundation is at www.amberweb.org
The Rowing Foundation is at www.therowingfoundation.org.uk
Andrew Morris the Businessman
Newark-based Andrew Morris is the Chairman and Founder of multi-award-winning international logistic companies. In addition, he’s the Founder of Icon Motorcycles (www.iconsheene.com) and Icon Motorsport, who specialise in unique, bespoke vehicle design and manufacture.
He also owns and races a 1990 Formula One Lotus, which is the only running Lamborghini-engined F1 car in the world.
Andrew is also the Chairman of the Allseas Group, (www.allseasglobal.com) the heavy-lift freight company he formed in 2005. With headquarters in Nottingham, it has a turnover of more than £30 million and has customers in 50 countries worldwide, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Brazil and Dubai. Allseas Global Logistics offers unrivalled expertise in handling the most difficult, challenging and time-critical transportation tasks.
His company International Export Packers (www.exportpackers.co.uk), a large out-of-gauge specialist packing business, is one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of wooden cases and crates.
Another of his companies, The PA Freight Group, (www.pafreight.co.uk) which he founded in 1988, employs more than 100 staff
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PRESS INQUIRIES
For all press inquiries, more information, pictures or to arrange an interview with Andrew Morris, please contact:
Alec Lom on alec@aleclom.com and 07802 401302 or
Naomi Coe on naomi@oar2012.com and 07851 601121.