England rugby sevens star Ollie Phillips finishes Atlantic Row

“It was just euphoria like I’ve never really experienced,” he said. “I felt relief and gratitude.

“Seeing my two daughters, my son and my wife was pretty overwhelming. I just cracked the moment my son ran over.”

Mr Phillips said that he had promised his children not to cut his beard during the crossing as they called it: “Daddy’s beard of strength”.

However, the moment he arrived on land he said they were “desperate to get rid of it” and he shaved it off that evening.

"It ended up becoming a bit of a focal point for me,” he said. “This will get me across the ocean, protect my face, I’ll have to worry less about sunscreen but it did get a bit itchy and it ended up becoming huge.”

Mr Phillips said his crewmate, Stuart, helped dye it. He said: “He did it the morning we were coming in and did an amazing job. He’s got a secondary skill set there, clearly as a face painter if he ever needs to.”

Mr Phillips lost 17kg during the crossing as more than a month at sea had taken a toll on his body.

After arriving on land, he said he had been experiencing “sea legs” and was getting used to bearing his weight again.

“Physically, my body has been all over the place,” he said. “I could walk but I was all over the place and I had loads of aches and pains all in my legs.

“All the muscles that had basically not really done anything in terms of weight bearing suddenly were now coming back to life again.”

Mr Phillips said that crossing the finish line gave him a realisation of what he and his team had achieved, not just in terms of the distance, but also the sacrifices made, including those from their families.

He said: “While it was physically immensely hard for us on a rowing boat, it’s pretty difficult and challenging for everyone else back home. Like my wife looking after three kids on her own over Christmas.”

This is not the first major challenge Mr Phillips has taken part in having previously climbed Mount Kilimanjao, trekked 100 miles across the Arctic, sailed around the world and cycled the width of the United States.

He described the row as his hardest challenge, not physically, but mentally, describing the emotional and psychological side as the “hardest thing I’ve ever done”.

Mr Phillips said that while he got on well with his crewmates, he found the small, cramped living quarters on the boat challenging.

“As always, the hardships soften and the enjoyment remains,” he said. “It was a fantastic achievement.

“I am so proud to have done it and it was incredible to do with the people that we did it with. But you couldn’t get me back in that cabin for love nor money.”

Mr Phillips said he would be taking away a number of very special memories, including a whale broaching out the water, seeing a pod of dolphins and ” phenomenal” views of the stars.

“I don’t think I will ever see a skyline like it at night,” he said. “The stars you see in the middle of the ocean are just miraculous – you just cannot believe that they exist.”

At the end of their challenge, team Seas Life has raised more than £350,000 for a number of charities, including Shiplake Primary School, which his children attend.

Ms Tong, 27, finished the challenge in 42 days alongside her two crewmates, Clare O’Reilly, who celebrated her 47th birthday at sea, and Mel Jarman, 33.

The personal trainer, who is a former pupil at Trintiy Primary School, finished last Sunday and celebrated with her parents Alex and Paul.

“The finish was just insane,” she said. “As soon as we went around the corner into the harbour, there was a viewpoint where our friends and family were.

“There were flares, horns and the super yachts made so much noise. The whole experience was quite surreal. It’s still sinking in and I’m still processing it.”

For the latter half of the race, Ms Tong’s crew, Row with the Flow, faced a period of bad weather which initially sped them up but then a “rogue” wave turned the boat 90 degrees, which they struggled to right.

Despite the challenges, the boat was the second all-female crew to arrive and were one of around nine all female crews in the race in total.

Ms Tong said: “The benchmark we were giving people was between 40 to 60 days, so to come in at 42 days we were very pleased and it was very cool to be part of an all-female team.”

After reuniting with her family, she and her crewmates had a “sit-down” meal, which Ms Tong said she particularly enjoyed having been eating dried food during the crossing.

She said: “As soon as we stepped off the boat, they had a meal waiting for us, which was great.

“We had chicken, some steak, salad, fresh fruit, chips, which I think ticked all the boxes of the things that were missing, especially the fruit.”

Ms Tong said that she was still readjusting to being back on land but was enjoying some home comforts again, including a real bed and not having to make clean drinking water.

She said: “A lot of muscles are quite sore now but it’s also very nice to be able to just do everything with a little bit more ease.

“It’s nice just to be able to get a bottle of water and have a drink and things like that.

“I’ve no idea how comfortable my bed is because I just lay on it and it felt like a cloud.”

Similarly to Mr Phillips, Ms Tong said she only started to realise the scale of what she had achieved after finishing.

Ms Tong said: “Everyone always said, ‘Oh, you’re absolutely mad, you’re crazy, that’s ridiculous’.

“But when I saw Antigua it came together and I thought, ‘I can see where you’re all coming from now’.

“To do what we have done is quite mad.”

The crew have been sponsored by Henley businesses, Gabriel Machin, the Three Tuns pub and the Henley Distillery. They are raising funds for the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust and Ocean Generation.