Weather hits Thames rowing record

Olympic gold medallist Tim Foster backed the team

Three men hoping to row the full 187-miles of the River Thames in less than 39 hours have failed to get into the record books due to bad weather.

Andrew McCartney, 32, Martin Hirst, 33, and Alex Aldred, 36, all from Bedford Rowing Club, began rowing at 1000 BST on Friday, in Lechlade, Gloucs.

They planned to reach Southend, in Essex, by 1200 BST on Sunday.

But the team's website said they had to abandon their attempt in the early hours of Sunday.

The team had been hoping to raise £20,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Keech Cottage, a Luton-based hospice caring for terminally ill children and their families.

They had been rowing a high-sided, coxed double scull designed to enable them to navigate the narrow and twisting stretch of the upper Thames as well as cope with the choppy conditions of the tidal estuary.

The trio worked a rota whereby two were rowing while the third was cox.

Olympic gold medallist Tim Foster had backed the attempt.