Evans rowed nearly 3,000 miles from the Canary Islands to Barbados. She crossed in 40 days and 19 hours, beating 49 days and seven hours set by fellow Briton Kiko Matthews in 2018.

Evans spent four years preparing for the row. The pandemic forced her to postpone from last year, to this year.

Initially, Evans had entered the annual Atlantic rowing race in December 2018. But as she became more familiar with the boat designs and her own ability, she thought perhaps the record was achievable.

Knowing the trade winds would be stronger, and therefore help her across the Atlantic, in February, she decided to drop out of the race and go for the record on her own instead.

“After the pandemic postponement, I was just so happy to do it I wasn’t so focused on the record. But I am just so competitive,” she said.

The record informed her day-to-day decisions. For example, at one point she was going so fast her land team thought it was dangerous. They suggested she put out a drogue – which is a small cone shaped cloth on the end of a rope that slows and steadies the boat in large conditions.

“I would have done that if it was absolutely necessary for the stability of the boat. But I didn’t want to slow down, it’s not what I came here for,” she said.

“I realised on day three, that if I continued to cover the distances I was covering, I’d be able to set the record. So it made me very focused. I didn’t have any down time in the cabin. I was just rowing, sleeping or eating,” she said.

“This is what we’re here for. I’d put four years into it, so I wanted no regrets. I never really stopped that push.”

The strong winds, along with her hard rowing, propelled her forward. But the powerful weather also made the journey extra stressful. She was constantly having to adjust her kit and her sleeping position for the weight distribution of the boat.

For days on end, she never had more than 20 minutes before she had to check the boat condition and location again. When she did try and grab more rest in the first week, her steering cable snapped.

Another time, the kit in her rear cabin shifted and locked the cabin from the inside. Her kit was stowed in the back cabin. She spent three hours sawing at the handle with just the blade of a hacksaw, as the actual saw frame would not fit in the gap.

“Sawing through the handle and the metal pin in the middle of the ocean thinking ‘this has to work as my life raft and battery are in there, my steering is in there.’ When you’re already tired, that’s a lot,” she said.

That was the only time she called land and cried, saying she could not do the challenge.

They asked if she had eaten or slept – she had done neither for hours. Finally she made it though the handle and shifted the kit. Thankfully, the other door handle lasted the remainder of the journey.

The swells were so big they kept pinning her boat down on its side. Water constantly washed over the boat.

“I’ve lost toe nails I was so wet all the time. But thankfully no water got in the back cabin. But it was touch and go,” Evans said.

Evans wanted to do it by herself because she wanted to experience self-reliance.

“I absolute got what I wanted,” she said. “I cannot imagine ever doing a challenge as hard as this again. This is as extreme as it gets. There were problems I couldn’t even anticipated. I think that is also true of the campaign.

“How do you put the campaign back together and keep it going for another 12 months. If I known then what I know now, I’m not sure I would have started.”

If Evans does another adventure, she will do it as a member of a team.

“Those moments when such unique incredible things are happening to you, it would be so great to share that with people,” she said. “I felt the pressure of never being able to switch of. I’d love to say ‘you take over’ to a teammate. I cannot do that again, as I cannot overstate how difficult it was.”

When Evans finally reached Barbados, she could hear her family before she could see them. She threw her brother the landing rope, but he would not take it.

“I was saying ‘I’ve just rowed an ocean, you can help me out’. Classic sibling bickering even then,” she said. “But he said he wasn’t allowed to touch me or the boat until I’d touched land [to officially secure the record]. Someone could have told me that.”

Evans is raising money for Women In Sport and is halfway to her £50,000 target.

“I wasn’t sporty as a kid. I got into sport in my mid-20s and it’s brought so much positive change into my life,” Evans said. “As a sports lawyer, I can see how it’s not always an option for girls and women. There is so much work to do to get to a position where sport is truly equal and available to everyone.”

Not only has Evans raised cash, she has become a role model herself. Schools up and down the UK completed 3,000 miles by different sports, to support her. And now she will visit the schools and give talks.

“I’m still a normal person who just decided to do something big. But we cannot have enough role models for girls so I’m comfortable [with that label]. If a girl looks at this and says it’s expanded her view of what she is capable of, then fantastic. That’s what I set out to do, to promote change,” Evans said.

Evans might be a normal person, but the last month or so has been anything but normal.

“My birthday was pretty special. I was visited by a super pod of 100 dolphins on my birthday. It is the kind of moment you realise will never happen again,” Evans said.