Two OMs train in Dubai for Pacific Challenge Race

OMs Paris Norris and Oliver Amos, along with two other teammates, will be rowing the 4,800km Pacific Challenge Race unassisted from Monterey California to Kauai Hawaii on 12 June. The team hopes to raise more than £144,000 for the Marine Conservation and Military Veteran charities by competing in one of the toughest races on the planet. 

Paris and Oliver will be the first set of rowers to attempt this route, and the world record will be on the table to be set. The Pacific Ocean is the World’s deepest ocean, and more people have gone to space than attempted to row across it, in fact, they will be in such remote waters that for most of their time in the ocean, the closest people to them will be astronauts! 

The row will be unassisted and will take roughly 40 days to complete. The boat that they are rowing in is an ocean rowing boat - specially designed by Rannoch Adventures and, will be continuously manned with 2 rowers doing two-hour shifts, then swapping. Paris and Oliver will be trained by coach Gus Barton, who has coached 10x WR beating teams. The team will be accompanied on this route by 6 whale migrations at the time, so the chance to see wildlife will be high - along with many other incredible natural sights.   

Originally from the UK, Paris joined Millfield in 2001, and moved to the Middle East directly after finishing a Masters Degree in Business Studies at The University of Edinburgh.  

Paris is host to TV show Guy in Dubai, a series about how to experience the wild side of Dubai and attempting every extreme adventure, challenge and living the amazing social life that Dubai has to offer. With a little imagination, he set out to prove that anything is possible in Dubai, and uncovers how to get involved, including: extreme sports, zip lining, paint balling, off roading, rock climbing and even eating competition challenges. 

During his time in Dubai, Paris uncovered a love for scuba diving, with his favourite local dive spot in Fujairah, UAE. Since moving to Dubai, he has created an episode on scuba diving for Amazon Prime, taking the viewers through the steps of the PADI Open Water Diver course. Paris also produced an experiential documentary on the tradition of pearl diving in the United Arab Emirates, where he completed the PADI Freediver course. He has also collaborated with brands like Columbia, Shearwater, Toyota, and numerous tourism boards across the world. 

We spoke to Paris about his upcoming challenge, and he said, “Whilst this is just the type of adventure that excites me and my teammates, we are ultimately doing this to raise funds and awareness to support cleaning the oceans and fallen veterans and are working with two great charities - The Blue Marine Foundation and the Invictus Games Foundation to achieve this.” 

Paris won’t be facing this dynamic challenge alone; he will be rowing alongside fellow OM Oliver Amos. The pair will have to be resilient, supple-minded and mentally ready for this strenuous journey. When speaking to Paris about the importance of these friendships and his time at Millfield, he said, “To this day, the friends that I've stayed in touch with the most and see the most over the years, have been the ones I made at Millfield. Whilst I came for sixth form, I made some great friends during that time. However, I feel there's an ethos among Millfieldians that you don't need an excuse to reach out, and when one does, you welcome them. Because of this, I made a lot of friends through the OM network that I didn't know at school and built upon friendships more since leaving.  

One such friendship was that of Oli Amos, who was 4 years my junior in Walton House, and about 4 feet my junior also. A small but highly energetic chap, I remember when it was my duty as a prefect to put them to bed and his year were enthused by stories I could tell of being in the sixth form (you can use your imagination). Upon leaving school and moving to Dubai, we linked up some ten years after school and stayed in contact. Oli, now almost the same height as me but equally enthusiastic as he always was, told me he was rowing the Pacific Ocean with his brother and he's choosing the rest of the team, I said firmly "I'm rower number 3". That is how I've ended up in the daunting situation of rowing the Pacific Ocean with a boy I used to put to bed at Millfield."