School sets rowing 'world record'

The crowd cheered people on as they finished their shift

A south Wales comprehensive school is claiming a world record for indoor rowing by its junior team members at a 24-hour funding raising event.

Ten members of Monmouth Comprehensive School junior rowing club clocked up a distance of 346,697 metres (215 miles) by rowing in five minutes shifts.

The world record bid is to be verified by the Guinness Book of Records.

A further 135 people, including teams from other sports clubs, clocked up more than 1,000 km on other machines.

The school claims it is the only comprehensive in Wales to offer rowing as a sport. The marathon row raised money for the boat club and more than £6,000 for the trust founded by five-times gold medal Olympic rower, Sir Steve Redgrave.

The junior team members, all under 18, worked in six-hour shifts, rowing for five minutes and resting for 20 minutes.

Organiser and club captain Anna Woodman, 17, said: "We did team events running up to it to get to people to pace themselves on what they could actually achieve. They all had their own individual targets.

"Throughout training, they worked out the distance they could realistically row within those five minutes and maintain it for six hours."

Guest rowers

In addition, 34 athletes and 100 guest rowers used 10 rowing machines to clock up a distance of 1,203,359 metres for the charity funding event.

Guests rowers at the event at the weekend included Monmouth MP and AM David Davies.

A big screen computer projection at the event allowed participants to see how well they were doing as they rowed compared to people on other machines.

Miss Woodman said: "We tried to match people of equality ability. It kept them very competitive with each other."