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Rowers Set Off On 3,000 Mile Journey Across The Atlantic Ocean – The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2020 Begins

SAN SEBASTIÁN DE LA GOMERA, Spain, Dec. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Today 55 rowers from across the globe took to the water for the start of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2020 – an epic 3,000 mile rowing challenge across the Atlantic Ocean.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: https://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8827151-talisker-whisky-atlantic-challenge-2020-begins/

The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge is a race with purpose – an inspirational event, which draws out the wild spirit in everyday people to achieve extraordinary things. It is a soul-changing journey and the challenge of a lifetime, giving rowers the opportunity to experience the exhilaration of the majestic ocean.

Beginning in the Spanish port of San Sebastian de la Gomera in the Canary Islands and ending in Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua–Barbuda, the crews will spend between 30 to 90 days at sea where they could face commanding waves, extreme physical challenge and nature in its purest form from spellbinding starry skies to dolphins in their natural habitats, and a whole host of marine wildlife as they row the 3,000 miles to Antigua.

Over 21 international teams – including four-man crews, all-female and solo crews – from countries including South Africa, the Netherlands, the United States of America and Great Britain are taking on the race under strict COVID-19 protocols after years of preparation.

To reach the start line, teams have had to demonstrate similar levels of vigor, determination and strength of character, as they’ll require at sea. The crews have worked tirelessly to secure partners and donations, while training – often around a full-time job – to prepare to row the 1.5 million oar strokes needed to cross the ocean. 

Each rower has a unique and personal motivation for racing; from charity fundraising to building awareness of ocean health. 

Frank Rothwell, 70, who is taking on the challenge with the hope of raising £1m for Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “It’s safe to say the enormity of the challenge is really hitting home! On the nighttime ferry to La Gomera, I looked out to the dark sea and I couldn’t see the horizon. That’s when it hit me, I thought I can’t believe I’m going out there on my own! Now I’m making final preparations at the start line, I know just how much I will miss my home comforts, especially my family, and wife of 50 years, Judith. But luckily for me, she’s promised to call me twice a day to keep me company.  

“That being said, I’ve spent the last 18 months training for this exact moment, so although it’s daunting, I feel excited and as ready as I’ll ever be. Raising money for Alzheimer’s Research UK, and hitting my £1 million, has become my biggest motivation. People are getting in touch with messages of support and donating money for dementia research, and Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation has generously offered to double the first £500,000 of donations, so I can’t go back now. I’ve got to prove that you’re never too old to take on a challenge!”  

Dixon McDonald – Captain of USA boat, Latitude 35, said: “I grew up in New York City, on the 7th floor of a 16 floor apartment building in Manhattan. I did not grow up next to an ocean, I had never rowed until about a year and a half ago. I hadn’t spent more than five and half hours on a rowing machine until I started training for the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. That said, I love pushing the limits of what’s considered possible and this race seemed like the perfect challenge to do just that.”

Sofia Deambrosi from The Bristol Gulls boat, said: “It is absolutely impossible to put into words how we feel right now, about to set off into the big blue. The team has gone through an incredible two years which have been a roller coaster of emotions, team dynamics and financial stability. Being at the start line is the beginning of the adventure of a lifetime but also the end of a journey we embarked on with determination and grit; where we both hit hard walls and met wonderful people, and came out of with new knowledge and skills, and 3 best friends for life.

We cannot wait to get going, and wake up to beautiful views and sounds of the ocean. We’ve left behind busy lives and loved ones at home and now all that is ahead of us is 3,000 miles of adventure.”

The oldest distillery on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky is very much a product of its rugged, coastal home. A whisky full of coastal character, Talisker’s origins come through in its aroma and taste, which connects the drinker with its rugged environment, delivering a powerful peat-smoke, with hints of sea-salt and a citrus sweetness and making it the perfect toast to those heading out to sea today.

Natalia Montigny, Head of Global Marketing for Talisker commented: “Talisker was founded in 1830 by two wild spirits – the MacAskill brothers – who rowed from Eigg to Skye in search of the perfect location for their distillery so we can say that Talisker Whisky is truly Made By The Sea. Every year we are touched by the incredible stories and determination of those taking part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. We wish them all the best as they undertake this epic journey and look forward to welcoming them back and raising a toast to their accomplishment.”

Carsten Heron Olsen, CEO of Atlantic Campaigns, said: “It is great to see our teams set off today on the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. Their determination and enthusiasm has been unwavering. After months of working with partners and the public to raise money for some amazing causes, the 55 rowers today get to take to the water and continue to inspire people across the world as they take on a journey most could not even imagine. “

NOTES TO EDITOR 

For further PRESS information about Talisker please contact: 

[each market to add local contact] 

2020 TEAMS

Team Antigua –  Antigua

Atlantic Dragon –  United Kingdom

Team Melokhule –  South Africa

Atlantic Dutchesses –  The Netherlands

Atlantic Solo – United Kingdom

Generation Gap – United Kingdom

Oardacity – United Kingdom

Atlantic Titan – United Kingdom

Latitude 35 –  USA

Force Genesis – United Kingdom

The Bristol Gulls – United Kingdom

Dutchess of the Sea – The Netherlands

Row for Cancer –  The Netherlands

Rudderly Mad – United Kingdom

For a Fitter Planet – United Kingdom

Spoarting Chance – United Kingdom

Atlantic Antics –  United Kingdom

Wave Warrior – United Kingdom

Team HPF – United Kingdom

Alzheimer’s Research – United Kingdom

On Shoulders of Giants – United Kingdom

TALISKER  

Located on the shores of the Island of Skye in Scotland for nearly 200 years, Talisker is very much a product of its rugged, coastal home.  A brand rooted in adventure, the whisky’s founders, the MacAskill brothers, rowed from Eigg to Skye in 1830 to start the Talisker Distillery in Scotland and that sense of adventure lives on through everything the brand does today. Talisker aims to inspire people to reconnect with the exhilarating feeling of being in nature’s presence whilst ensuring we restore the wilderness for future generations. We call it Re-wilding. 

Talisker Whisky and Parley for the Oceans, a collaboration network and environmental organization, recently announced a three-year partnership. In a collaborative environmental mission, Talisker and Parley are launching ‘Rewild Our Seas’, a global initiative to restore and protect the health of underwater forests on coastlines. Together the partners will support the preservation and protection of 100 million square meters of marine ecosystems around the world by 2023.

Diageo 

Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits, beer and wine categories.  These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, Buchanan’s and Windsor whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness. Diageo is a global company, and our products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world.  The company is listed on both the London Stock Exchange (DGE) and the New York Stock Exchange (DEO).  For more information about Diageo, our people, our brands, and performance, visit us at www.diageo.com.  Visit Diageo’s global responsible drinking resource, www.DRINKiQ.com, for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practice.  

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1374136/Talisker_Whisky_Atlantic_Challenge_2020.jpg  

 

Generation Gap - At Sea - Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2020.

 

  

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Reliance Digital Launches ‘Baaptaa’, a Father’s Day Campaign Celebrating the Many Expressions of Fatherhood

MUMBAI, India, June 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Reliance Digital has launched ‘Baaptaa’, a Father’s Day campaign to celebrate the many expressions of fatherhood. Built around a simple cultural observation, while “Maa ki Mamta” has long been a part of India’s collective vocabulary, there has never been a word that captures the distinct ways fathers express love, the campaign introduces ‘Baaptaa’ as a tribute to the many shades of fatherhood.

Conceptualised as an original music-led campaign, Baaptaa celebrates fathers not as idealised figures, but as they are experienced in everyday life, protective, dependable, emotional, quirky, practical, occasionally embarrassing, and always present. Through a relatable narrative, the campaign acknowledges the countless ways fathers care for their families, often through actions rather than words.

Watch Video: https://youtu.be/9XyUsJB33Ds?si=PM67vhxrzth1JEkz 

At the heart of the campaign is an original music video told from a father’s perspective, capturing the different roles he plays across life’s moments and milestones. The film brings to life the humour, warmth and unspoken affection that characterise father-child relationships, while giving a name to a form of love that many recognise but few have articulated.

The campaign stems from a simple insight: while motherhood has often found expression through familiar phrases and popular references, the unique language of fatherhood has remained largely undefined. Baaptaa seeks to fill that gap by creating a term that reflects the everyday gestures, practical wisdom and quiet sacrifices that fathers make.

Father’s Day communication often leans into familiar emotional territory, but Reliance Digital’s campaign celebrates fathers in a way that feels more culturally authentic and relatable. The idea for ‘Baaptaa’ came from a simple observation — mother’s love has been immortalised in a number of heartfelt, emotional songs, there needed to be an anthem dedicated to dad’s love. And thus was born Baaptaa – a love language that is often awkward, practical, protective, humorous and deeply felt, even if rarely verbalised. It’s a celebration of fatherhood in all its wonderfully imperfect forms immortalized by a song that you won’t be able to stop humming.

Shop for the widest range of electronics at Reliance Digital and thank your father for his Baaptaa.

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Harper Collins Publishers India is Delighted to Announce the Recent Publication of ‘People We Love’ by Preeti Shenoy

NEW DELHI, June 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — HarperCollins Publishers India is delighted to share the recent publication of People We Love by bestselling author Preeti Shenoy. At once tender and sharp, this collection of stories offers intimate, truthful and relatable portraits of the people we cherish, the ones we lose, and the people we become.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The people we love never truly leave our story…

In these tender yet piercing stories, Preeti Shenoy returns to some of her most beloved characters to reveal who they were before they appeared in her bestselling novels It’s All in the Planets and The One You Cannot Have.

Aniket, a coder, carries the weight of a longing for Trisha that he cannot bring himself to act on. Nidhi abandons her corporate life to teach pottery, only to discover that clay is far more forgiving than the people she loves. A quiz competition sparks an unlikely romance between Aman and Shruti, one that must withstand parental disapproval and class divides. And Anjali, a journalist, is so busy chasing stories that she almost misses the one unfolding in her own life.

Set against the pulse of contemporary India, People We Love explores the tug-of-war between duty and desire, family and freedom, who we are and who we dare to be. Intimate and deeply felt, these are stories about love that stays, leaves and almost slips away … love that quietly and irrevocably shapes the people we become.

Preeti Shenoy, author, says, “People We Love is a collection of three long stories, prequels to my bestsellers It’s All in the Planets and The One You Cannot Have. If you have read those books, you already know how these characters’ stories unfold. But what you don’t know yet is where it all began, the loves they carried, the choices they made, and the people they were before life shaped them into who you met on those pages. Writing these prequels felt like returning to a home I hadn’t realised I missed, and discovering rooms I had never been in before.”

Rashmi Menon, Associate Publisher – HarperCollins India, adds, “Preeti Shenoy has an extraordinary gift for finding the heartbeat of ordinary lives. People We Love is a warm, wise and deeply humane collection of short stories that reunites readers with favourite characters from her bestselling novels It’s All in the Planets and The One You Cannot Have, weaving them into fresh, deeply satisfying narratives. These characters feel like people you know, and their journeys will move, comfort and surprise you. This uplifting, thought–provoking collection reminds us why we turn to stories in the first place. We couldn’t be more excited to share it with our readers.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Preeti Shenoy is among the highest-selling authors in India. She was featured on the Forbes longlist of the most influential celebrities in India. Her books include When Love Came Calling, Wake Up Life, Is Calling, Life Is What You Make It, The Rule Breakers, A Hundred Little Flames, It’s All in the Planets, Why We Love the Way We Do, The Secret Wish List, The One You Cannot Have and many others. Her work has been translated into many Indian languages. Preeti is also a motivational speaker, an avid fitness enthusiast, and an artist specializing in portraiture and illustrated journalling. Preeti lives in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

ABOUT HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS INDIA

At HarperCollins Publishers India, we believe in telling the best stories and ensuring they reach the widest readership. We publish around 250 new books every year across 10 imprints, adding to a diverse catalogue of more than 3,000 titles in print and digital formats, with an array of genres and voices that ensure there is a book for every reader. Our authors have won some of the most prestigious literary awards, and we are proud to publish many acclaimed writers, alongside new and emerging voices shaping contemporary literature. We are also the publishers of The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, winner of the Booker Prize 2008, and Girl in White Cotton by Avni Doshi, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, and HarperCollins India itself has been awarded “Publisher of the Year” several times. In addition, we represent some of the finest global publishers such as Harvard University Press, Lonely Planet, Oneworld, Nosy Crow, Usborne, and National Geographic Children, bringing Indian readers access to world-class books and ideas. We are also proud to be certified as a Great Place to Work for two consecutive years, a recognition of our culture, people, and values that make HarperCollins India a truly inspiring workplace. 

PRESS CONTACT:

Nandini Tripathi, Manager – Marketing (Commercial)

Email: nandini.tripathi@harpercollins.co.in | Mobile: +91 9718928839

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Fulfilling PM Modi’s Dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat: India’s AI Writing Startup Kreativespace Incubated at IIT Kharagpur

  1. Kreativespace, an Indian AI-powered writing platform founded by Vinet Kakadea, has been incubated at IIT Kharagpur and recognized by SVNIT University, Ministry of Education under Bodhan AI Conclave also through the NVIDIA Inception Program, AWS Startup Program, and DPIIT under Startup India.
  2. The platform unifies 8 AI-powered writing tools, along with AI Humanizer and Message AI feature being the latest addition into a single ecosystem, so you can generate and refine content all in one place.
  3. The company reports more than 50,000+ signed-up users, 75,000+ anonymous users, and roughly 100,000 monthly website visitors, positioning itself as the only Indian company operating at scale in the global AI writing market.

SURAT, India, June 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Kreativespace, an AI-powered writing platform, is building out its position as the only homegrown alternative in a market long dominated by international tools such as Grammarly and QuillBot. Founded by Vinet Kakadea and incubated at IIT Kharagpur, the company has aligned its growth with the broader push behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) initiative, which encourages indigenous technology development capable of competing on a global scale.

Kreativespace Incubated at IIT Kharagpur

As AI adoption accelerates across India’s education, research, and enterprise sectors, Kreativespace is among a small group of Indian startups building writing technology designed to compete directly with established international platforms.

Kreativespace’s progress has been recognized by several institutions central to India’s startup and technology ecosystem. The company has been incubated at IIT Kharagpur, selected under SSIP 2.0 through SVNIT University, and chosen by the Ministry of Education to present its work at the Bodhan AI Conclave. It has also been accepted into the NVIDIA Inception Program and the AWS Startup Program, and holds DPIIT recognition under the Startup India initiative.

Where many writing-tool users rely on separate subscriptions for content generation to refinement for grammar correction, paraphrasing, plagiarism checking, citation generation, and editing, Kreativespace brings these functions into a single platform as a super-app for AI writing tools. The company says its approach centers on affordability and accessibility alongside performance, aiming to make advanced AI writing assistance available to a wider range of users regardless of geography or budget.

The idea for Kreativespace took shape while founder Vinet Kakadea was studying at New York University and Marymount University in the United States, where he experienced firsthand how students, researchers, and professionals often need multiple paid subscriptions to cover writing-related tasks. That fragmented experience led him to build a super-app offering each of these capabilities together, at a more accessible price point.

Kreativespace combines 8 AI-powered writing tools with AI Humanizer and Message AI feature being the latest addition, allowing users to generate, rewrite, refine, and humanize content without moving between separate platforms. The product is available via web platform, mobile apps on the App Store and Google Play, browser extensions for Chrome, Mozilla, and Edge, and a Google Docs add-on.

Vinet Kakadea, Founder of Kreativespace, said, “Kreativespace’s vision is to digitalize the entire Indian education ecosystem to support PM Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme.”

About Kreativespace

Kreativespace with the Motto of Making Writing Accessible for Everyone: Kreativespace is an AI-powered writing platform built to make AI writing tools accessible, affordable, and effective for students, researchers, educators, professionals, content creators, startups, and enterprises. Founded by Vinet Kakadea, the company is incubated at IIT Kharagpur and has been recognized by AWS Startup Program, the NVIDIA Inception Program, and DPIIT under Startup India. For more information, visit kreativespace.com.

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