Rowing: Wobbly legs and a family welcome

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

New Zealand rower Jude Ellis had such wobbly legs when she arrived in Barbados yesterday morning that she "fell into the bushes", but rowing partner Steph Brown was just in time to see her family before they flew back home.

Brown's brother and sister had travelled from England to welcome her into port after she rowed across the Atlantic, but when headwinds slowed the New Zealand women's boat on the final stretch, Brown made her family's deadline by mere hours.

After 51 days at sea, Brown and rowing partner Jude Ellis crossed the finish line off Port St Charles - thrilled to finish fourth in a 35-boat fleet crewed by men.

They received a raucous welcome from family and friends. The New Zealand men's rowers, Matt Goodman and Steve Westlake, Brown's boyfriend, led a haka.

Westlake and Goodman won the race nine days earlier.

Ellis said they had always hoped they would finish in the top 10, admitting she had expected to beat some of the men's crews. "But never this many." While Brown was bidding farewell to her siblings soon after stepping on land yesterday, Ellis was tucking into some much-longed-for ice cream.

"I got such a fright when I looked in the mirror - I didn't recognise myself," 35-year-old Ellis said. "I've never been so skinny. I reckon I've lost 9kg. And I'm finding it hard to walk on land again. I got off the boat and fell into the bushes."

The women felt fit and well - in contrast to the Belgian brothers, Bruno and Alain Lewuillon, who finished a day ahead of them in third place, exhausted and starving.

"The Belgians said they were scared the whole race that two girls were going to beat them," Ellis said. "They came out on a boat and welcomed us in. Our last two days at sea were the toughest. We could see land all that time, but we just couldn't get to the finish line."