There is no mistaking where Frank Rothwell is when he calls The Athletic — the steady slap of oars on water as he rows his way across the Atlantic ocean makes for a remarkable backdrop to the conversation.
The 73-year-old Oldham Athletic owner is on the home straight on the World’s Toughest Row of 3,000 nautical miles from the Canary Islands, off the coast of Africa, to Antigua in the Caribbean which, if he arrives on schedule on Valentine’s Day, will see him break his world record as the oldest person to row the Atlantic.
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Repeating the gruelling challenge three years on from his last record set in the event is not just a daring adventure for Rothwell, who set off on the challenge on December 12 and spent Christmas Day at sea in his one-man boat, but a mission to raise as much money as possible for Alzheimer’s Research UK in search of a cure for dementia.
The night before we speak, high winds caused waves to crash over the boat, a persistent problem causing setbacks and dangerous waves as the Oldham-based businessman tries to stay on course. It is a far cry from spending Saturdays at Boundary Park as owner of National League Oldham — although their ground is famous for being one of the coldest in English football so Rothwell knows something about surviving in adverse climates.
“You can’t put into words how hard it is to do this,” Rothwell says. “It’s not like a marathon, a big ride, a 5k or a 10k where you can walk if you need. This is a real challenge, it’s called the world’s toughest row for a reason. The world’s toughest anything, actually. It affects everything, your mood, your person and everything is so important: your food, your sleep, how you’re rowing, how many interviews you do and everything as you go along. If we want to stop the boat we have to use what’s called a para-anchor or sea anchor. It’s a parachute that goes in the sea and it holds the boat in that position.
“I had to put it down last night because we were going in the wrong direction and it was too windy. Once it was down there was a major swell and the winds were 30 to 40mph, the para-anchor got stuck under the boat and I spent the night with waves coming over the side of the boat, which was a bit scary. I’ve got 271 miles to go and I’m winding them down as fast as I can. I really am motivated to do it. We’re just under a quarter of a million pounds and I’m really happy with how the funds are being raised. I’ve had great support and lots of football people are donating.
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“Last time I did it, I didn’t own Oldham Athletic and then I raised over a million pounds. I did it in 56 days last time and I hoped to go faster because this time everything is better — I’ve got a faster boat. But the wind has been so difficult this time, it’s not been blowing in the direction that it normally does. There’s something called the trade winds, where the wind blows in the same direction every year but that hasn’t been happening. The people in the race who finished two weeks ago flew over the line but then the trade winds changed and we’ve been going around in circles.”
Rothwell, who owns businesses including one of the UK’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of portable cabins, took over Oldham in July 2022 ending the tempestuous ownership of his predecessor Abdallah Lemsagam as the club were relegated from the EFL for the first time in their history in April 2022.
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Under Micky Mellon, who took over from the sacked David Unsworth in October, the team have climbed into the play-off mix. He may be thousands of miles away but Rothwell has tracked the team’s progress from the Atlantic and has had regular calls with Mellon. The club crest adorns his boat, a one-man vessel that has an open section in the centre where Rothwell rows as well as a sheltered seating area and rest area at either end.
“My family have been running the businesses and Oldham Athletic so I’m away from that and leave the football to Micky, we just need some more points in our promotion bid,” says Rothwell.
“I’ve missed the football but being away from family over Christmas was really hard, I’m very much a family man. I miss my wife (Judith), we’ve been married for 53 years and my grandchildren, going skiing and a lot of family things we do at Christmas.”
Family and home comforts are the main things Rothwell has missed — and for his race, the lack of sun has not helped either.
“The sea has been warmer this time but I’ve not seen as much wildlife. A whale came by two days ago, that was a nice surprise.
“There hasn’t been as much sun too — it’s very important to get the batteries charged up using the solar panels. With the boat, the idea is to make it as light as possible so I didn’t bring anything like beers with me. I’ve got freeze-dried food and my grandchildren made me a homemade Christmas card.”
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Among the freeze-dried meals Rothwell has on board are beef cottage pie, spaghetti bolognese and cold pot noodles while a plant pot with a padded seat acts as an on-board toilet. His team can track his progress online along with the other 38 teams who took part in this year’s race, in crews ranging from one to five rowers. The fastest team back, made up of five rowers from the Royal Navy, reached Antigua in 35 days on January 17. Twenty-seven had made the finish at the time The Athletic spoke to Rothwell.
On average, rowers complete more than 1.5 million oar strokes throughout the race while facing up to 20ft high waves during the journey. Rowers can burn up to 5,000 calories a day and lose an average of eight kilos in body weight during the row while seeing whales and dolphins swim alongside their boats.
Oldham have planned a celebratory match to welcome their chairman home at the end of February against Kidderminster Harriers, with fundraising from across the football community at fellow non-League teams a big part of his £240,000 raised before he reaches Antigua.
Among the stand-out names to have donated are Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenny and Ryan Reynolds, who donated $2,000 (£1,600). Unwavering support from his family has been a big motivation and, if he maintains his pace, a Valentine’s Day reunion with wife Judith, children Luke and Sue and his grandchildren could be on the cards.
“My family didn’t have a choice, really. I wanted to do it and they knew what to expect. But I wouldn’t be happy if one of them said they wanted to do it. There aren’t many harder things than running a football club but this probably is.”
You can donate to Frank’s JustGiving page for the World’s Toughest Row in aid of Alzheimer’s Research UK here.
(Top image: Getty Images/Alex-Wallace-Photography)