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Best friends break world record by 9 days after successfully rowing across the Pacific Ocean
A pair of women broke the world record for the fastest row across the Pacific Ocean — by nine days.
Jessica Oliver, 32, and Charlotte Harris, 33, set out to compete in the World’s Toughest Row Pacific Challenge on June 8, 2024, from Monterey, California, with the goal of rowing 2,800 miles to Kauai, Hawaii.
Thirty-seven days, 11 hours and 43 minutes later, Oliver and Harris arrived in Hawaii having broken the world record for fastest row by female pairs, the fastest row by overall pairs. They were the first team in the competition to row both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans successfully.
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Oliver, from Gloucestershire, England, spoke with Fox News Digital from Hawaii, just days after crossing the aquatic finish line, to discuss what led to the major milestone moment.
“We knew nothing about rowing. We knew nothing about the ocean,” she said about the pair’s experience prior to rowing the Atlantic Ocean a few years back. (See the video at the top of this article.)
Charlotte Harris and Jessica Oliver, pictured above, rowed from California to Hawaii in 37 days. (World’s Toughest Row)
Oliver met Harris, who’s from Hampshire, England, while in school at Cardiff University in Wales.
The two were in the hockey club, and Oliver said they became best friends almost instantly.
“Do you know when you meet someone [and] you’re like, ‘We are kindred spirits?’”
Today, almost 15 years later, the Salesforce consultant by day said she and Harris are nearly tied at the hip and love to compete – just like the old days.
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“In 2020, we signed up for something called the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge, having never rowed before,” she said, adding, “Charlotte [Harris] worked for a company who sponsored it… and she said to me, ‘Do you want to do this challenge?’”
Oliver said the pair had just completed a boxing challenge together and were looking for another challenge to join in an effort to raise money for Shelter & Women’s Aid — a national campaign for homeless people.
The pair competed in the Atlantic Ocean rowing competition two years ago. (World’s Toughest Row)
For two years after, the pair campaigned and prepared for the challenge — rowing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to Antigua.
When the pair arrived 45 days later, they had beaten the world record for the fastest female row of the Atlantic.
Oliver said she and Harris were thrilled with their success and felt like they had checked the “adventure” box.
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She recalled, “Six months later, the race organizers opened up the Pacific Challenge, and we sat at our desks going, ‘It wasn’t that bad, was it? The Atlantic? We could do it again?’”
Oliver and Harris ultimately signed up to row the World’s Toughest Row Pacific Ocean Challenge and trained five to six days a week for two years leading up to the race.
Oliver said the pair went through a few different challenges they weren’t expecting along the way. (World’s Toughest Row)
Oliver said, however, that nothing could have prepared them for the experience they had rowing the Pacific Ocean.
“The first 500 miles off America is extremely challenging from a weather perspective,” she said, adding that the pair’s nearly 23-foot-long boat lost its automatic steering within the first week.
Due to strong winds from Canada and roughly 13-feet-tall waves, Oliver said the training the pair had planned went out the window for the first period of time.
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Typically, she said, one person would row for two hours and then take a break and either sleep or eat inside one of the two cabins onboard for two hours — then repeat.
Oliver said she and Harris have been friends for 15 years — and they know each other to their core. (World’s Toughest Row)
She said this plan was ineffective for the majority of the row due to the uncertainty of the ocean and the race they were in with another team.
“By the end of it, when we were really neck and neck with the other female paddlers. We were rowing between 16 and 20 hours a day. It was just a case of going down and sleeping whenever you could,” she recalled.
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One of the scariest encounters, Oliver recalled, was when the pair nearly collided with what appeared to be an oil tanker.
While the rowers were attempting to fix their automatic steering, Oliver said their systems didn’t alert them about a large boat nearby — and they were shocked to look up and see the boat coming directly toward them.
“This boat is massive, we are tiny, and we don’t have any steering,” she recalled thinking while panicking in the moment.
The pair beat the previous female pair’s world record by nine days. (World’s Toughest Row)
Oliver said the oil tanker came within 30 feet of their rowboat — saying it was “so close to just completely obliterating us.”
After the grueling 37 days of fighting to make it to the finish line, Oliver said crossing it was an “unbelievable” feeling.
She said, “We crossed the finish line, and it had been so stressful and had been quite traumatic, that we were like, “OK, we’ve done what we wanted.’”
Oliver said maybe they will try something a bit calmer for their next challenge.
“The real thing for us that was the cherry on top was actually winning the female class,” she explained, adding, “We beat all the teams of threes and fours, and we came second in the whole race only 24 hours behind a team of four military men.”
As for what’s next for the pair, Oliver said maybe they will try something a bit calmer for their next challenge.
The average crossing time for all crew sizes across the Pacific Ocean is 62 days, according to World’s Toughest Row.
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Text messages about marriage, money and a “fresh start” took center stage in the murder trial of Utah author Kouri Richins, as prosecutors laid out what they say was her plan to move on from her husband and profit from his death.
Richins, 35, is charged with aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and multiple financial crimes in the March 3, 2022, death of her husband, Eric Richins. Prosecutors allege she poisoned him with a fentanyl-laced Moscow mule so she could collect life insurance money and begin a new life with her boyfriend. She has pleaded not guilty.
During opening statements, Summit County Deputy Attorney Brad Bloodworth read aloud a series of text messages he said were exchanged between Richins and a man identified in court as her boyfriend.
In one message sent the day before Eric’s death, Richins allegedly wrote: “If I was divorced right now and asked you to marry me tomorrow, you would?”
Internet searches recovered from the phone of Kouri Richins, a Utah mother accused of fatally poisoning her husband, are displayed on a screen during her murder trial at the Summit County Courthouse in Park City, Utah, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (Spenser Heaps/AP Photo, Pool)
Weeks earlier, prosecutors said she sent another message: “If he could just go away, and you could just be there, life would be so perfect.”
Jurors also heard that 16 days after Eric’s death, Richins allegedly sent her boyfriend a link to a Caribbean resort and wrote, “Are we there yet?” About a month after the death, prosecutors said she texted him, “I think I want you to be my husband one day.”
Bloodworth argued the messages reveal Richins’ desire to start over and pointed to what he described as mounting financial pressure.
According to prosecutors, Richins was facing substantial debt and believed she would inherit millions from Eric’s estate if he died. Bloodworth told jurors a prenuptial agreement would have limited what she received in the event of a divorce.
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Body camera video is displayed on a screen during the murder trial of Kouri Richins at the Summit County Courthouse, in Park City, Utah, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (Spenser Heaps/AP Photo, Pool)
“Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life,” Bloodworth said in court.
Prosecutors also highlighted phone activity from the early morning hours of March 4, 2022.
Bloodworth told jurors Richins first accessed her phone at 3:06 a.m. but did not call 911 until 3:21 a.m.
The state further referenced internet searches conducted after Eric’s death, including: “Can cops uncover deleted messages iPhone?”
Jurors were also told that three money-themed memes — including one that read “I’m rich!” — were accessed on Richins’ phone the morning Eric died.
Prosecutors allege the killing was tied to life insurance proceeds.
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Defense attorney Kathy Nester shows the jury an image of a pill bottle while delivering her opening statement in Kouri Richins’ murder trial, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (Spenser Heaps/AP Photo, Pool)
Court documents state Richins purchased multiple life insurance policies totaling nearly $2 million and later changed the beneficiary designation to herself without Eric Richins’ authorization. Authorities say Eric discovered the change and switched the beneficiary back to his business partner.
Investigators also allege Richins intended to use insurance money to complete and flip a roughly $2 million Wasatch County mansion, an investment Eric’s family has said he did not approve of.
Defense attorney Kathryn Nester told jurors Eric struggled with chronic pain and substance use and died from an accidental overdose. In pretrial filings, Richins’ legal team has argued that a key prosecution witness changed their story and that the evidence against her is largely circumstantial.
“No family ever wants to believe that behind closed doors someone you loved is using drugs,” Nester said during opening statements.
The defense played Richins’ 911 call in court, in which she can be heard crying and telling a dispatcher her husband was not breathing.
“Those are the sounds of a wife becoming a widow,” Nester told jurors.
The third day of testimony ended unexpectedly after roughly an hour on the stand from the state’s lead crime scene technician.
Kouri Richins looks on during her murder trial at the Summit County Courthouse, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (Spenser Heaps/AP Photo, Pool)
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Chelsea Gipson, the CSI technician who processed the Richins home, faced cross-examination focused on the evidence she collected, including prescription medications removed from the scene and whether she observed alcohol or THC gummies inside the residence. Gipson acknowledged the hydrocodone bottle recovered from the home was not tested for fentanyl and testified that no drug paraphernalia was found.
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Defense attorneys also questioned how certain areas were documented, noting that no photographs were taken of the kitchen, sink or closet during the initial processing of the scene.
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Kathy Nester walks back to her seat during the trial at the Summit County Courthouse, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026. (Spenser Heaps/AP Photo, Pool)
Judge Richard Mrazik called a recess around 9:30 a.m., citing a scheduling conflict. When court resumed shortly after 10:30 a.m., he dismissed jurors for the day, referencing “unforeseen emergency circumstances unrelated to the case.”
On Thursday, Kouri Richins’ housekeeper testified that she bought pain pills for her after repeated requests in early 2022. Carmen Lauber said Richins asked in early February 2022 for pain meds for an “investor,” took the pills and deleted their texts, and later left $1,000 at her Midway home for Lauber to pick up for another purchase.
Lauber also said she helped Kouri Richins obtain increasingly stronger drugs. She said she first sought out strong painkillers through a friend after Kouri Richins allegedly said her “investor” wanted something stronger, calling it the “Michael Jackson stuff.”
Lauber’s testimony followed a state toxicologist’s testimony acknowledging that Eric Richins could have taken fentanyl before having a drink, potentially undercutting prosecutors’ claim that Kouri Richins laced his Moscow mule.
Richins was arrested in May 2023. The case later drew national attention after she published a children’s book about grief following her husband’s death.
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The trial is expected to continue for several more weeks.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.
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DENVER — More than 24 hours after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, Coloradans are continuing to express their feelings about what the attack means not only for the world, but here in our state.
For the second straight day, Coloradans expressed their opinions on the steps of the state Capitol about the attack by the US and Israel on Iran.
But instead of anger, as was the case on Saturday, the tone on Sunday was more cheerful.
“Today it’s a celebration about like getting our freedom back, and we would love to have people to be happy with us,” said Forzun Yalme, who helped organize the event with Free Iran Colorado.
For some Iranian-Americans, the news of the attack brings a new sense of hope that freedom is near.
“For me to be Iranian-American, in 47 years here, I learned about democracy and human rights and what I like,” detailed Amir Tosh, another member of Free Iran Colorado. “I want to transfer what your values are for democracy, human rights, freedom to my country, my motherland.”
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“My uncle and grandma, grandparents, they were all so happy about what happened, because we can, like, now feel the freedom,” explained Yalme.
But some Iranian-Americans are more cautious.
Colorado’s only Iranian-American state representative, Yara Zokaie, doubts the operation will have a significant impact to Iran’s leadership.
“I’m sympathetic to people who want regime change by any means necessary, but I think we also need to stop and realize what this actually means,” said Zokaie. “Regime change is not something that can happen in one airstrike.”
Zokaie admits she herself was elated to hear Iran’s supreme leader and other top officials were killed in the attack.
But she hopes Coloradans remember the innocent people who have already been killed and those who are more likely to come.
“I ask that we remember the humanity of people in the Middle East as this news unfolds. I ask that we call for a peaceful resolution that we empower Iranian people who will bring change from within, and that we call for no war with Iran,” said Zokaie.
Several people at today’s event at the Capitol approached our Denver7 team. They shared their gratitude for President Donald Trump, the US military, and the Israelis for their action in helping bring freedom to Iran.
They hope others will see that as well. They plan on being here for the next hour and a half or so.
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