Conquering Oceans and Beyond: The Remarkable Story of Lee Spencer, The Rowing Marine

Welcome back to Extraordinariness for the first episode in Season 2.

This week Joanne spoke to Lee Spencer, AKA the Rowing Marine. Lee was in the Royal Marines for 24 years but his life changed after he was injured, losing his leg, whilst helping at the scene of an accident on the M3 in Surrey in 2014.

In 2015 Lee set-off to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in just a rowing boat. The Row2Recovery team of four injured veterans had just 3 legs between them. In February 2016, some 46 days, 6 hours and 49 minutes later they rowed into Antigua and the record books as the worlds first physically disabled crew of four to row any ocean.

Following this, Lee became the world’s first physically disabled person to row from mainland Europe to mainland South America solo and unsupported. Lee Spencer, The Rowing Marine, broke the able bodied record by an astonishing 36 days and also broke the record for the longest solo and unsupported ocean row by a physically disabled person, a total of 3 Guinness World records.

Lee’s next challenge is The Triathlon of Great Britain, the Rowing Marine, will embark on his toughest challenge yet. He will swim the English Channel, cycle from Lands End to John O’ Groats and climb the three highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales (including a full Marathon) – combining the three classic challenges in Britain into one enormous challenge.