By Martin Berka

I would like to thank to all our fantastic sponsors for their support! Obviously, we would not row anywhere without you.

There is a long list of people whom I owe a lot for their selfless support along the way – in some cases for years on end. Expeditions like these are very selfish things to do. This one made me realise just how much I depend on others. You were the ones who lived the ups and the downs with me, and that has helped me tremendously. I tried to remember all of you so sorry if I unintentionally miss some of you.

I would also like to thank my family: my mum, my sisters, my cousins, my aunts and my uncles – near and far, and my fiancé. I could not have completed this journey without your support.

I thank Jamie Fitzgerald for lending me his erg, for answering my countless questions, for buying us four immersion suits when a sponsor pulled out the day before departing, and for helping to keep us sane a number of times during the row.

I thank Peter Johnson and Robyn Sherson who have selflessly and enthusiastically helped us for years all the way to the finish.

I thank Mr. and Mrs. McEwan who housed and fed us in Sydney for a number of weeks, with smiles!

I thank Steve Gates for answering my countless questions over the years, for lending us his company van for three weeks in Sydney, for lending us his satellite phone and his cutlery for the row and for supporting us with his unmistakable humour when we were stuck.

I thank the owners of Noakes Boat yard in Sydney for helping us finish various jobs on the boat, two weeks in a row.

I thank Roger Badham for his reliable precise everyday weather analysis during the row.

I thank Griff for saving my foot.

I thank James’ sister for helping us cut the boredom along the way, every day.

I thank Matt Goodman for his advice.

I thank Sharon and Geoff Payne, as well as Judith and Bryan Fielden. I thank Julie Cherrie, Fion Su, Doris Leong, Michal Topolsky, Martin Bliemel, Christine Lussier, Hana McEwan, Brad Jowitt, Matus Garba, Richard Barker, Dominique O’Brien, Dan Hayman, Dan Bailey, Andrew LeGrice, Roger Giese, and all WERC and ARC friends who, while thinking I was mad, were full of support.

I thank my colleagues at Victoria’s School of Economics and Finance (particularly Christoph Thoenissen, Morris Altman, Stefanie Schurer, Amanda Bristol, and John Randall), as well as my many supportive friends at Massey.

I thank Warwick Stent for always lending me his ear and supported me over the years, not only during our runs.

I thank a true friend Otto Reich and a TV cameraman/journalist Dean Whitehead for the lifts from the Bay of Islands.

I thank Mr. and Mrs. Blackman for delicious food, cold beer, and a warm welcome.

I thank Collin Quincey for the inspiration, a great message in the middle of the Tasman, and for the welcome. I thank Shaun Quincey for his support.

I thank friends in faraway places for their enthusiastic support, Mick Devereux, Maros Finka, Ivan Supuka, Leo Kilvady, Alena Kosturikova, and many, many others.

I thank the folks of Maritime radio for their help near the capes and along the east coast.

Last, and the most, I thank my teammates Nigel Cherrie, Andrew McCowan, James Blake and Rob Hamil, for everything. You guys rock.