Stephen Phillips aged 44.
In 1978 at the age of 9, Stephen was introduced to his first experience of adventure when he cycled from his home in Norfolk to his Aunt’s house in Lancashire. He completed this 160 mile adventure over 2 days on a 3 speed BSA boys racing bike camping overnight in the bushes.
After leaving school Stephen trained as a graphic designer and then became a police officer in 1997, working for Norfolk and Cambridgeshire police where he is a Detective investigating serious crime. He has a fierce passion for protecting the rights of vulnerable people.
Stephen combined his love for cycling, travel and adventure, competing in the 2012 Global Cycle Challenge. He has also cycled through most countries of Western Europe, across the United States of America, New Zealand and Australia and has spent extended periods travelling throughout Pakistan, China and Kyrgyzstan. Stephen has trekked in the Sahara Desert and climbed mountains in North Africa.
Stephen likes to feel challenged competing in unique long distance endurance cycling events where sleep is a luxury!
Having travelled most places by land Stephen turned his eye to the bits in-between and is seeking a challenge with a difference.
Taking on 3000 miles of Atlantic Ocean will test him on daily basis and force him to find out more about himself than any other challenge to date.
A whole new world of adventure awaits him.
John Bakewell aged 49
Born in Shropshire in 1964, John now lives close to Norwich with his wife Laura and four children.
His early career saw him in the back seat of a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter, where as an Observer he honed his tactical skills hunting submarines off the coast of Cornwall and the south western approaches. The cliffs around were his playground and the coast path his running track.
In 2002 he joined the ambulance service, where he now works as a Clinical Operations Manager for the Out of Hours Service in Norfolk.
In the intervening years he has climbed sections of the Cuillin Ridge in Skye, trekked across Knoydart and Applecross and scaled Mont Blanc. He completed the London Marathon in 1997 and cycled unsupported from Lands End to John O’Groats in 2010, taking in Snowdon, Sca Fell and Ben Nevis because the cycle wasn’t enough. To date he has raised over £5,000 for charity.
This crossing of the Atlantic has been on his radar for nine years. Built to pedal and not row, the challenge is set: an east-west crossing speed record by revolutions, the goal.