- Jimmy Graham could become the first black man to row a polar ocean
- The Pro Bowl tight end incredibly has no rowing experience to date
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
Longtime NFL player Jimmy Graham will attempt to row across the Arctic Ocean next year with a team of three other people, he has announced.
Dubbed ‘The Artic Challenge,’ the mission will see Graham, former US Navy Seal Andrew Tropp and elite rowers Hannah and John Huppi try to undertake a 1000km (621.3 miles) journey.
The foursome will depart from Tromso, Norway in July 2025, and will hope to set multiple Guinness World Records.
‘The impact of The Arctic Challenge goes far beyond the 4 athletes and the Arctic Ocean,’ Graham wrote on his X account.
‘With the mission to inspire young minds, the team aims to challenge the next generation to push beyond their limiting beliefs and chart their own course.’
Jimmy Graham will embark on a new athletic journey next summer in the Arctic Ocean
Incredibly, Graham has no rowing experience to date.
According to the Challenge’s website, the team will sleep no more than 90 minutes at a time, rowing its nine-meter boat for 24 hours a day in alternating two-hour shifts.
The group will aim to consume a whopping 8,000 calories per day and is expected to be at sea for 10-21 days.
The trip is set to end in Longyearbyen, Norway.
If the group is able to complete the trip, it will become the first mixed-gendered team to row the Arctic Ocean.
Hannah Huppi would also become the first woman to row the Arctic, while Graham would become the first black man to row a polar ocean.
Ocean Revival set the current Arctic Ocean speed record – 15 days, 5 hours, and 32 minutes – last year.
Graham impressed in the preseason (above) in 2023 but didn’t play much in the regular season
Graham told fellow NFL player Cam Jordan on his ‘Off the Edge’ podcast, ‘It just really gives me something to look forward to and something that athletically I can push myself in a new direction.
‘And I don’t have to take hits anymore. I can just sit there and just get to work.’
The mission will also benefit three charities that ‘support disadvantaged youth,’ according to the Arctic Challenge website.
Graham, 37, is a five-time Pro Bowler who has played for the Saints, Seahawks, Packers and Bears across 13 seasons.
It’s possible that the 2023 season was his last, as he said goodbye to Saints fans afterwards.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk