Residents Urged to Take Part in Weston-super-Mare RNLI Rowathon

WESTON RNLI station and fundraisers are challenging Westonians to show how fit they are and to support the local lifeboat crew.

Last year's event was a huge success and the RNLI crew are staging another rowathon on January 28, from 9.45am-4pm.

Weston MP John Penrose, minister for Tourism and town mayor, Cyril King, will open the event by rowing on two Olympic Concept 2 Rowing Machines outside Sainsburys in Worle.

Volunteer crew members of Weston Lifeboat Station, accompanied by members of the public, will attempt to row the miles from Weston to Sharpness on state of the art rowing machines, a distance of 50 miles.

In the early days of the RNLI all lifeboats were rowed when on service to save lives at sea.

This charity event is in homage by the Weston RNLI volunteers to their predecessors. 

The money raised will be part of the appeal for new lifejackets for all of the crew.

As well as the Weston RNLI crew, the event will be open to anyone who is medically fit. 

Don Sutherland, chairman of the Weston Lifeboat Management Group said: "This event is in keeping with the long history of the RNLI volunteers working with the RNLI Fundraisers to raise funds to continue their work of saving lives at sea."

Rowers will be given 5 minutes on the rowing machines to see how far they can row.

Each distance rowed will be added to the total and electronically displayed to show progress being made.

Individual Members of the public, who can just turn up on the day, will be asked to donate a minimum of £2 for the privilege of assisting with the row.

Teams, however, should notify the organisers in advance to ensure there are no holdups waiting for a free machine.

There will be a competition held to establish the best distances rowed in 5 mins.

Sainsburys, the main Sponsor, will be donating prizes for the best Male, Female and Youth individuals and also the best Male, Female and Youth Teams. 

The team event will consist of 4 persons rowing one after the other during the 5 minutes.

They row as hard as possible for a short time then jump off and their place is taken by another member of the team and then repeated until time is up.

Various sporting clubs and organisations are sending members to compete. If you want to enter a Team contact John Egerton Preece on 07901 550050 or email preecey13@yahoo.co.uk, 

The event is being supported with equipment supplied and staffed by Freak Events, a Weston-super-Mare based business.