New Zealand rowers Steve Westlake and Matt Goodman have won the Trans-Atlantic Rowing Challenge.
The pair crossed the Barbados finish line this morning, 42 days two hours and 19 minutes after the Canary Island start.
The Auckland policemen, both 31, finished the gruelling 4667km crossing with a time almost a day slowerthan the 1997 record set by fellow New Zealanders Rob Hamill and Phil Stubbs. Their time was 41 days two hours and 55 minutes.
Goodman, a last-minute replacement for Hamill after he hurt his hand while going to the aid of a woman being beaten by a man, told NZPA this morning he had often thought about Hamill during the crossing.
"I really felt for Rob ... It really ripped his guts to give up the opportunity and I thought about him all the way -- I didn't want to let him, or anyone, down," he said.
As they neared the end of 42 days at sea the pair spent a frustrating final 48 hours battling headwinds that ended their hopes of breaking the race record.
"They are disappointed that they didn't break the record, but they're rapt they met the team's first priority - to defend the title," said Hamill, who met the boat as it neared the finish.
Westlake and Goodman dedicated their victory to Stubbs, who was killed in a plane crash on Karekare Beach in West Auckland in December 1998.
The next crew, on Australian boat Freedom, were 200 miles behind. New Zealand women Steph Brown and Jude Ellis were in 4th place with 400 miles to go.
