A PhD student at Clare College has broken the world record for the world’s longest continual indoor row. Having begun the gruelling ordeal on the 29th October, Tim Tito Rademacher successfully achieved his goal of rowing for over three days and eight hours in the early evening of the 1st November, having only been permitted 10-minute breaks every hour.

And this is the second time in the past six weeks that the 28-year-old from Germany has written his name in the records books: as Varsity reported in September, Rademacher rowed over 284 kilometres to claim the world record for the greatest distance rowed over the course of a day in the lightweight men’s 20-29 age group category.

While in the process of claiming the overall world record, Rademacher also claimed two others: overcoming the heavyweight record for his age category of 50 hours as well as the lightweight record for his age category of 64 hours. 

Rademacher’s row, which took place in the Clare College boathouse, will not only earn him a place in the world record books but will see him make a valuable donation to charity. With a large number of admirers sponsoring the German for his efforts, an estimated £550 has been raised that is set to help give a refugee student the valuable opportunity to study at Cambridge via the Students of Cambridge Scholarship, a fundraising effort aimed at raising money for a Master’s student with refugee status to study in Cambridge for at least a year. With Rademacher's contribution taken into account, the campaign has now raised more than £9,000.

Clare student breaks rowing World Record

Alongside the completion of his monumental rowing feats, Rademacher’s plans have also included the creation of a documentary that catalogues the German’s journey. Set to be released in December 2016, the film is ‘Unkaputtbar’ – which means unbreakable in Rademacher’s native German – and sees several scientists and film-makers following Rademacher as he balances his relentless training schedule with the writing of his PhD thesis, which focuses on the impact of vegetation dynamics on the global carbon cycle.

Rademacher's sporting achievements are not restricted solely to his marathon efforts on the erg: a multitalented sportsman, he represented the University in rugby league in 2011 but was forced to quit after suffering an ankle injury while playing for the German national side against Serbia. Meanwhile, in 2012, he pulled on the Light Blue shirt for the handball team and, a year later, represented the University with the men’s lacrosse team too.

And though his Cambridge sporting career was put on hold for a term-long medical intermission, his return to the University in 2014 saw the start of his rowing career which began first in May 2014 with Clare, followed by a place on the Cambridge University Lightweight Rowing Club (CULRC)’s development squad that summer. A year later, he rowed at bow as part of the Cambridge crew that prevailed over Oxford at the 2015 Henley Boat Races.

More information on how to donate to the Cambridge University Refugee Scholarship, Clare Boat Club or the production of the film documenting Tim Tito Rademacher's journey towards these record attempts can be found at  projectunkaputtbar.com