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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.
ALL-WOMEN ROWING TEAM BREAKS WORLD RECORD IN RACE ACROSS PACIFIC OCEAN: ‘BEST DECISION EVER’
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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San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Giants honor Willie Mays with highway designation on what would have been his 95th birthday
The San Francisco Giants announced a fitting tribute to one of the best players in the history of Major League Baseball on Wednesday afternoon.
Willie Mays, the legendary center fielder and Hall of Famer, would have turned 95 on Wednesday. And the Giants, in conjunction with Mays’ Say Hey Foundation, along with several other sponsoring parties, will be designating a portion of a local freeway as the Willie Mays Highway.
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Hall of Famer Willie Mays tips his cap during introductions for Game 1 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Detroit Tigers in San Francisco on Oct. 24, 2012. (Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee/AP)
This designation will cover a portion of Interstate 80 where the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge reaches the city near Oracle Park, the Giants’ home stadium. Signs on I-80 have already been installed with the new designation, a way for Mays to become a permanent part of the San Francisco Bay Area and his home franchise.
Giants personnel spoke about the honor and what it meant to have a “reminder” of his infectious spirit and personality next to the stadium.
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“What an incredibly special way to honor Willie’s legacy,” said Larry Baer, Giants president and CEO according to MLB.com “For generations, this portion of I-80 on the Bay Bridge has carried Giants fans into San Francisco, and now it will forever carry Willie’s name—a lasting reminder of the joy and inspiration he brought to this city. It is also fitting that this same span of the bridge is named after former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown Jr., two great San Franciscans.”
San Francisco Giants players Orlando Cepeda and Willie Mays stand at the Polo Grounds in New York on Sept. 11, 1963, during a game against the New York Mets. (Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images)
Mays came to the Bay with the Giants in 1958, and has a list of accomplishments to rival any other player in MLB history. A 24-time All-Star, two-time MVP, 12-time Gold Glove winner and 660 home runs, the sixth-highest number by an individual player.
Jeff Idelson, the executive director of the Say Hey Foundation, also issued a statement celebrating the announcement.
“Wille was more than a baseball great, he was a part of the fabric that helped define San Francisco culture for more than a half century,” said Idelson. “Not only is this a fitting way to recognize his lasting contribution to the community, but it furthers Willie’s legacy as a national icon.”
Willie Mays visits PS 46 in Harlem, next to the site of the former Polo Grounds where the New York Giants played before moving to San Francisco in 1958, on Jan. 21, 2011, in New York City. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)
One of the state senators who introduced the bill paving the way for this designation was Bill Dodd from nearby Napa, who also added, “I cannot think of anyone better to welcome people traveling across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco than Willie Mays. He was an inspiration to so many of us growing up. I was so pleased to have had a part in making this happen.”
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The combination of speed, power, defense and joy Mays played the game with is incredibly rare, which is why his legacy is still viewed with such importance today, nearly 53 years after he retired. Hopefully, the next generation of baseball fans will stay familiar with his career thanks to this reminder.
DENVER — Denver leaders say the city is ready to host the 2028 Democratic National Convention.
Local and state leaders came together Wednesday to show off the city, giving the Democratic National Committee its third of five site tours across the country.
Among the finalists are Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Denver.
“In 2028 Democrats will gather at the national convention to reaffirm the core principles of our party and nominate the next President of the United States of America,” Ken Martin, chair for the Democratic National Committee, said.
READ MORE: Denver selected as finalist to host Democratic National Convention in 2028
He said the process of selecting the host city is a “serious and deliberative one.”
The selection will be based on factors including hotel space, transit and airport access, venues, restaurants and bars, and culture, among other things.
Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib made the case for what Denver brings to the table.
“Denver offers a town square, a place to debate, place to energize and a place to organize around the ideals that have always propelled this country forward with fairness, justice and the pursuit of happiness, and that’s what the West has always provided,” Murib said.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis also joined in the pitch. Johnston acknowledged it has been 18 years since Denver last hosted the DNC in 2008, but said he believes the event could bring in half a billion dollars in economic activity to the city.
► Watch Veronica Acosta’s report in the player below:
Denver leaders pitch city as host for 2028 Democratic National Convention
“It’s four consecutive days of prime-time national television of 50,000 or more people in the city, hosting parties, events, gatherings, and so it’s a huge economic impact for us,” Johnston said.
Hosting the convention comes with a significant cost to the city as well. Johnston said Denver has a plan in place to cover it.
“That is certainly part of the question the convention will have, is each city’s ability to fundraise for the convention,” Johnston said. “We’ve built a very detailed financial plan to lay out our path to raise the resources that we would need to do and we’re prepared to do that.”
Denver Democrats are hoping to recreate the success of the 2008 DNC, nearly two decades later.
“Hosting a national convention, of course, can be a great economic boon for any city with over 35,000 delegates, guests and members of the press in attendance; the Democratic National Convention helps showcase its host city as a world class destination,” Martin said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Bryan Woo was the best pitcher the Seattle Mariners had in 2025 as they made their run to the playoffs.
He looked like that guy again on Wednesday afternoon.
Seattle Mariners 3, Atlanta Braves 1: Recap | Box score | Standings
Woo shook off a pair of recent shaky outings to go six scoreless, one-hit innings to lead the Mariners to a 3-1 win that clinched a series victory over the MLB-leading Atlanta Braves.
The 26-year-old right-hander worked around a pair of walks while tying his season-high with nine strikeouts.
Woo had a 2.25 ERA through his first five starts of the season, but he ran into trouble on Seattle’s last road trip, allowing seven runs on nine hits including four home runs at St. Louis on April 25. He struggled again last Friday, giving up four runs in the first inning and six runs total over six frames in a loss at home to Kansas City.
Those two outings pushed Woo’s ERA up to 4.61, but he lowered it to 4.02 on the year with his start Wednesday.
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With Woo dominant on the mound, the Mariners’ offense didn’t need to do too much to build a lead against the Braves. Seattle went up 1-0 when designated hitter Cal Raleigh came up with no outs and hit into a bases-loaded double play in the third inning, scoring catcher Jhonny Pereda.
Julio Rodríguez contributed with a little more volume in the sixth inning, blasting a 436-foot solo home run to center off of Braves starter Martín Pérez to put the M’s up 2-0. And after the Braves scored one in the eighth, team RBI leader Cole Young added some insurance by bringing home Josh Naylor home with his second double of the game.
The Mariners came back to beat Atlanta 5-4 on Monday, then had to bounce back Wednesday after falling 3-2 Tuesday night following Braves slugger Matt Olson’s go-ahead homer off of closer Andrés Muñoz in the ninth inning.
Seattle improved to 18-20 with the win, while the Braves dropped to 26-12. It was the first series loss of 2026 for Atlanta.
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The M’s are off Thursday, then begin a seven-game road trip at 4:40 p.m. Friday against the White Sox in Chicago. Mariners Radio Network coverage on Seattle Sports of that series opener will begin at 3:30 with the pregame show.
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