When Jacksonville’s Jenny D’Anthony and Venice’s Anna McLean Joynson crossed the finish line at Hanalei Bay on the island of Kaua’i, Hawaii, they became the youngest female pair to finish the Pacific leg of the World’s Toughest Row – an endurance race in which competitors must overcome physical extremes, sleep deprivation and the elements to complete a trans-ocean crossing.
The Pacific leg of the 12-year-old competition started in 2023.
Mc Lean Joynson, 29, and D’Anthony, 28, arrived at 11:47 p.m. on July 25 – 47 days, 17 hours and 37 minutes after they left Monterey Bay, California.
“For me, the sleep deprivation was one of the hardest things to adapt to,” D’Anthony said. “I think we both did adapt but it took some time to get used to that.”
The journey was the culmination of two years of preparation and another hallmark in a friendship that started about 10 years ago, when they met on the Clemson University Rowing team.
As part of that preparation, D’Anthony, who lives in Jacksonville, and McLean Joynson, a Venice resident, trained off the Venice coast in the Gulf of Mexico and were frequent guest speakers at area community meetings and service clubs while raising more than $250,000 through their United Row nonprofit. The organization promotes women in sports through Hear Her Roar, a Clemson University-based effort that provides women’s athletics scholarships and leadership training, and Preserving our Oceans.