TWO rowers took on the challenge of a lifetime, battling treacherous weather and sickness all in the name of charity.

Laura Dunmow, 46, and Tony Peck, 45, both from Leigh, were selected to take part in the Celtic Challenge – the world’s longest rowing race where crews row from Arklow in Ireland to Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast.

The distance is about 90 nautical miles across the Irish Sea and teams must use traditional Celtic longboats to complete the race.

Tony, who captains the Lower Thames Rowing Club in Leigh, said: “Last year, our club took part in the Great River Race through London in our new Celtic longboat. We found it frustrating because those crews who’ve been using longboats longer were much faster, so we looked at getting some training with the Aberystwyth Rowing Club in Wales.”

Tony and Laura, who captains the ladies team, headed to Wales to undergo training and made such an impression that when the time came for the Welsh rowing club to select team members for the Celtic Challenge, their names were in the mix to make up the crew, comprising five men and seven women.

Tony added: “Neither of us had ever done this kind of rowing away from land before so it was a daunting challenge.”

Their boat was called Branwen and was kitted out with safety equipment including flares, radar reflectors, GPS transmitters and lights.

The crew would race in one hour shifts swapping rowing crews from their Safety Boat to Branwen via an inflatable boat.

After considering the weather forecasts the Race Committee deemed that it could start at 1.30pm from Arklow on Friday, April 28.

Tony said: “Nobody was really sure about the weather and whether the race would go ahead.

“Eventually they decided it could go ahead because there was a good window but it was sandwiched between two low-pressure systems, so they said anyone who didn’t finish in 24 hours would have to retire, which definitely piled on the pressure.”

The crew carried on across the sea changing shifts throughout the night as they battled the challenging conditions.

Tony added: “A lot of the crew had really bad seasickness. I was lucky enough to avoid it but it was really difficult.”

At around 4.30 on the Saturday morning the winds were gusting with three metre waves hitting their boat side on. The deteriorating conditions meant the decision was made to retire as transferring crews was considered too dangerous.

Out of 13 crews entering the Challenge, only four made it to the finish.

Tony said: “It was a fantastic event to be a part of and we’re proud of what we achieved. We are already looking at how we can get involved next year.”

Branwen’s Crew covered 70 miles out of 90 and raised £1,500 for Mencap and Alzheimer’s Research UK.