Colchester fitness coach and crew win GB Row challenge

Gibbons said the group rotated in shifts and were each rowing for 15 hours a day, surviving on defrosted ration packs.

The first thing he did after arriving at Tower Bridge was eat a “big juicy burger with lots of salad”.

Gibbons said he would never forget seeing dolphins playing around the boat in the Irish Sea and Scotland.

“Great Britain is an amazing country, the coastline we have is absolutely unbelievable, the scenery is stunning – the wildlife is so varied, there is so much of it that we were lucky enough to see.”

While England sweltered in a heatwave, the crew endured two weeks of rain around Scotland.

“You can’t dry anything,” he recalled.

“You have to take off your soaking wet stuff and then you have to put it back on two hours later – still soaking wet.”