Ben and Yuri have been friends and rowing partners since 2017 and have raced together and against each other more times than either can remember. Ben is a retired Air Force Colonel and now an EMT and high school math team coach. Yuri is a pathologist and cancer researcher at the University of North Carolina. They love their families, friends, and communities and enjoy a good challenge (which frustrates their families , friends, and communities). Any doubts as to their ability to face this rowing challenge will be eased knowing that Ben won 3rd place in the 2009 Kunsan AB, Korea 4th of July hotdog eating contest.
Now they are preparing for their next adventure: rowing across the Atlantic Ocean in the 2027 World’s Toughest Row.
Ben
Ben retired from the United States Air Force after 23 years as a Colonel in 2022. Currently, he serves on the boards of several non-profits, Valor Therapeutics, PFLAG Dayton, Greater Dayton Rowing, and the Dayton Rowing Foundation. Among other volunteer work, he founded and coaches the Oakwood Junior High School Math Team. Ben works part-time as an EMT at Saint Clair Township – New Miami Life Squad.
Since Ben was convinced to go to the MIT Lightweight Crew barbeque his freshman year of college in 1995, he has been an avid competitive rower. (Ben is easily persuaded to attend events where food will be available.) He joined the team as a coxswain, transitioned to rowing his sophomore year and was on the team all 4 years of college. While at MIT, Ben raced in the Eastern sprints league against crews like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, and Columbia. Ben continues to be a nationally competitive rower, winning 10 medals (including 6 gold medals) at the 2023 USRowing Masters National Championships, 9 medals (including 3 gold) at the 2024 championships, and 5 medals (including 2 gold) at the 2025 championships. He has won a total of 30 USRowing Masters National Championships and medaled twice at the USRowing Club National Championships (Silver medal, Men’s Intermediate Lightweight Quad, 2019; Bronze medal, Men’s Intermediate Lightweight Single, 2016). Ben qualified for the World Rowing Indoor Championships in 2021 and 2022. He holds 17 American age-group records on the Concept2 rowing machine, including 4 world records. Ben has competed in multiple US national team selection events, including 2004 Olympic trials and 2003 and 2018 Pan-American Games trials. Ben was the Air Force Male Athlete of the Year for 2014.
Ben is also a USRowing Level III coach. Ben was the Greater Dayton Rowing Association (GDRA) Junior Men’s head coach from 1999-2002. During that time, he coached a youth men’s double from GDRA to represent the United States at the 2002 Junior Panamerican Regatta in Mexico City, where they made the grand final. He also took numerous crews to compete in the Canadian Henley and USRowing Club National Championships. Ben returned to coach at GDRA numerous times since then. Ben also served as the head middle school coach for OKC Riversport in Oklahoma and assistant coach for Great Miami Rowing Center. Ben also runs occasional coaching clinics for adults.
Outside of rowing, Ben completed Ironman Arizona in 2014. Ironman Chattanooga in 2025, and the American Triple-T (4 triathlons over 3 days).
Yuri
Yuri is the LabCorp Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. He is the co-Director of the UNC Project-Malawi Cancer Program, developing and supporting diagnostic services in support of the Kamuzu Central Hospital Lymphoma Study, AIDS Malignancy Consortium and NIH-funded clinical trials.
(Ben’s bio is longer because he made the website and Yuri has not given Ben his life story yet. Rest assured that Yuri is much more accomplished than Ben.)
Ben and Yuri's Adventure to Row the Atlantic Ocean 