Team Imua Captures FIRST in the SEVENTY48 Race

Marin Rowing Member, Thiago Silva along with teammate, Greg Spooner captured FIRST in the SEVENTY48 race this past weekend. The Seventy48 aka 70 miles (Tacoma to Port Townsend) in 48 hours is a race with simple rules: “no motors, no support, and no wind. That’s right. HUMAN POWER ONLY. Pedal, paddle, or row.”

Silva and Spooner AKA Team Imua finished in a time of 10:39:00 just seven minutes ahead of second place team, Blister in the Wind. “It was crazy amazing” says Silva with a huge smile on his face. Silva joined Marin Rowing in February of 2018 and you can frequently find him training on the water, the erg, the rp3, the assault bike… basically any means to not only build fitness but also exercise and grow that grit muscle.

And the training paid off for Team Imua who in the first 30 minutes of the race experienced breakage and watched as their competitors took off ahead of them. Whatever happened to a proper breakage zone!? “It was a loose nut which held us up for at least 10 minutes” says Silva, “…and that was the only time we stopped.”

With a deficit the pair took off at a 28 for at least the next hour. The end game was clear, get to the finish line. Through current, wind, wakes, freezing cold temperatures… you get the idea. And all the while, the duo didn’t know where they stood. That’s right, no time to stop and access the situation. Just GO. GO. GO.

It wasn’t until Silva received a text from his wife saying, “you are in second place” with 20K to go in the race. Team Imua and Blister in the Wind then traded places until the finish line.

Silva certainly brings the CAN’T STOP, WONT STOP attitude to Marin as this race was a stepping stone to an even larger endeavor next year, The Great Pacific Race that takes racers on a journey from San Francisco to Hawaii. GOOD LUCK on your training, Thiago. And BIG thank you for inspiring all of us at Marin to take a chance and try the unthinkable.