Coxless Crew Schools Project
WHO ARE THE COXLESS CREW?
The Coxless Crew are four women who will be achieving a world first by rowing 8,446 miles unsupported across the Pacific Ocean, from San Francisco, California to Cairns, Australia. In the process we aim to raise at least a quarter of a million pounds for our two charities Walking With The Wounded and Breast Cancer Care.
This will be a world first, world record breaking adventure. The team aim to set 3 World Records during the row:
• First all-female team to row the Pacific Ocean.
• First ever team of four to row the Pacific Ocean.
• Fastest ever Pacific Ocean row
By completing this challenge the team wish to inspire others to reach for their own potential and to meet the challenges that life throws at them, however big or small. We will all have to face our own Pacific Ocean at some point in our lives.
THE COXLESS CREW SCHOOLS PROJECT
THE VISION
• Inspire young people to follow their dreams and open themselves up to the opportunities available to them.
• Give schools the opportunity to experience the world beyond the classroom through live interaction with our journey.
• Engage with schools across the country during the build-up, during and after the row, sharing the whole of our journey with them through visits from team members and through the blog and website.
• Involve the students in fundraising for our Pacific row challenge and for our two inspirational charities.
THE PLAN
• We are encouraging schools to get involved in fundraising for our two inspiring charities, Walking With The Wounded and Breast Cancer Care. There are many different ways that the fundraising can take place. Some ideas are listed below but I am sure that you can come up with some of your own.
• The students will be encouraged to track our progress across the Pacific on our website. We will post blog updates, photos and videos on the dedicated schools project area of our website. These will contain educational content about the ocean, environment and the physiological challenges of the row.
• The 25 schools who raise the most money for our charities will receive a visit from at least one member of the Coxless Crew team to hear first-hand about the challenges experienced at sea and hear stories from the boat. This will likely happen between January and March 2016 after the team return to the UK. They will also receive a personal email from the crew at one of their stopovers on route across the Pacific.
• If possible with power requirements, weather and communications costs the 3 schools who raise the most money for our charities will receive a live phone call from the Coxless Crew whilst on the ocean. This will likely take place between Hawaii and Samoa where weather conditions are likely to be more favourable for solar power.
• All schools who commit to raise £500 for the Coxless Crew will receive a personal email from the Coxless Crew team from at least one of the stopovers to get an update from the boat.
THE CHARITIES
The primary focus of both of our charities is to support women overcoming adversity, whether they are wounded servicewomen or women affected by breast cancer.
The vision of The Coxless Crew challenge is to generate awareness of women who face extreme adversity and to raise funds to support their journey towards long-term health and wellbeing.
Walking with the Wounded
As more women join the army and take part in frontline duty there is a greater risk for them to be seriously injured. As we are an all-female team, Walking With The Wounded have agreed that all money raised for the charity during the row will be put into a dedicated fund to specifically help our injured servicewomen.
Finding long-term employment is one of the biggest challenges facing wounded servicewomen and men hoping to lead a normal life after severe injury. Walking With The Wounded help fund the re-training and re-education of these women and men to help with their transition after active duty.
Breast Cancer Care
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and around 55,000 people are now diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK, with around 400 of these being men. That’s one in eight women.
Breast Cancer Care is the only UK-wide charity providing specialist support and tailored information for anyone affected by breast cancer. Their clinical expertise and emotional support network help thousands of people find a way to live with, through and beyond breast cancer.
FUNDRAISING IDEAS
ROWING CHALLENGES
Participation in sport has been shown to increase confidence, improve behaviour, and act to motivate and inspire young people. The aim of holding a rowing fundraiser is to get the students active and help them gain an understanding of the physiological aspects of the row. . If the school does not have access to a rowing machine then the Coxless Crew can put them in touch with The Rowing Company who are able to hire them out.
500m ROW CHALLENGE
Students will row 500m as fast as possible on a Concept2 rowing machine. Times for each student will be recorded and if the school email the results to the Coxless Crew a leader board will be published on our schools website when possible. Students will be encouraged to raise sponsorship or make a contribution to take part.
12 HOUR ROW CHALLENGE
Students could row in a relay fashion on one Concept2 rowing machine for 12 hours. The total distance covered should be recorded by the school and sent to the Coxless Crew and we will put this on our schools website when possible. The 12 hour relay will require students to work as a team and thus experience one of the fundamental aspects of our row. The students should seek sponsorship for this to raise money for our charities.
Results and photographs from the rowing challenges should be sent to the Coxless Crew so that they can be added to our dedicated schools project website.
For more information about the Coxless Crew Schools project or to take part please contact Emma on emma@coxlesscrew.com or 07841 921252.
For more information and documentation regarding the schools project please visit the website schools.coxlesscrew.com
For more information about our Pacific Ocean Row please see our website www.coxlesscrew.com
