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ATTENTION NEWS DESKS
ROWERS SET OUT ON WORLD RECORD ATTEMPT FROM AUSTRALIA TO AFRICA (Carnarvon, Western Australia, 19/4/03) Mike Noel-Smith (45) and Rob Abernethy (31), two ex-soldiers from the UK, today set out on the Betfair Indian Ocean World Record Row from Carnarvon, about 1000 km north of Perth, Australia, to Africa, a distance of 4400 nautical miles. The two British motivational training and change management experts will be putting themselves through the toughest self-motivation test yet as they attempt to row, unaided, across the Indian Ocean in record time. The duo hope to make landfall on Reunion Island in about 60 days time, setting an official Guinness World Record. The row is sponsored by Betfair (www.betfair.com), the company revolutionising betting, and it is hoped to raise some £250,000 for the children's charity, SPARKS, monies which will be used specifically to help fund investigations into septicaemia at the University of Portsmouth. Mark Davies, Director of Communications of the title sponsor, Betfair, said:
The ocean-going boat is just over 7 metres long and 2 metres at the beam. Fully laden it weighs just less than 1 tonne. For their start the rowers will have the benefit of a full moon which will not only give them good night-time visibility but means that the trawlers which frequent the busy fishing lanes around the islands 30 miles off the coast will be in port, minimising the possibility of collision. They will also have the benefit of easterly winds in the first critical days to get beyond the Continental Shelf and the Lewin Current. During this period Noel-Smith and Abernethy will probably need to row together. Given Easterlies, they will find themselves in open ocean, about 200 miles off the coast, in 3 to 4 days. From there the pair will row in 3 hour stints, 24 hours a day, except when they need to take shelter. SPARKS, Sport Aiding Medical Research for Kids, was set up by some of Britain's best-known celebrities from the world of sport and entertainment to fund vital research into conditions that affect babies and children, including childhood cancers, premature birth, spina bifida and bone diseases. SPARKS' aim is for children to be born healthy. Over Ј9 million has been raised for SPARKS-funded research all over the UK in the last decade. SPARKS sporting and event ambassadors Will Greenwood, Tracy Edwards and, most relevantly, world-famous rowers, Sir Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and Tim Foster, are all endorsing the Betfair Indian Ocean World Record Row. Tim Foster, part of the famous gold-medal winning coxless fours team at the Sydney Olympics 2000, said on behalf of SPARKS:
To keep up their strength Noel-Smith and Abernethy will eat their way through 6000 calories of rations a day. Food will be cooked in a cramped cabin which will also act a sleeping quarters. As well as high energy drinks they have their own watermaker as well as 30 litre water containers that double up as ballast. The pair will complement their diet with fish from the Indian Ocean which, as well as being the world's third largest, is also the richest in marine life. To optimise progress, the crew have the backing of a team of meteorologists, one in Australia, one in California, who will give them up to the minute information on weather, winds and currents. The public can follow the duo's progress on a specially created website (www.transventure.com) and can find out how they themselves can support the row via that site and the SPARKS website (www.sparks.org.uk). - ENDS -
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