ROWING FOR GLORY: Tim Wilks

AN amateur rower and keen rugby player will put his endurance skills to the ultimate test when he spends Christmas rowing across the Atlantic.

Tim Wilks, 29, will survive on periods of only two hours of sleep, followed by two hours of rowing, freeze-dried food and only his German rowing partner for company during the two-month challenge.

Mr Wilks, from Darlington, and fellow rower Peter Raab, will cross the ocean along with competitors in the biennial Ocean Rowing Society's Atlantic Rowing Race.

Mr Wilks is a late entrant into the race after Mr Raab's previous partner pulled out.

They were put in touch through the Ocean Rowing Society and only met for the first time to train at Mr Raab's base in Tenerife two weeks ago.

Mr Wilks has taken part in ocean rowing races in the Channel Islands and has been a semi-professional rugby player for a decade with Mowden Park, in Darlington.

He has also spent a number of years back-packing across Asia and Africa, and will raise money for Unicef's work in the Developing World during the transatlantic event.

He said: "I have done a lot of different things, but this is going to be a huge challenge.

"I just wanted to test myself to see what I am capable of physically and mentally.

"You cannot take two strides without bumping into each other. We will not see anything other than the horizon. It is going to be a huge mental challenge, but I am really looking forward to it.

"We have done three days' rowing around Tenerife. It was a very good training exercise because it was very hard.

"The first fortnight will be the hardest, because you have to get out to the coastal current and out into the open sea."

The success rate for the race is about 65 per cent, with most failures in the first few days.

The 3,000-mile route will take them south from Tenerife, starting on December 8, to the Cape Verde Islands before they head across the Atlantic to the finish in Antigua using ocean currents and drift. Their seven-metre-long rowing boat will carry all of their food, as well as a sat-nav device and equipment to turn sea water into drinking water.

People can follow the pair's progress at www.atlanticrowing race.bptenerife.com

3:02am Monday 26th November 2007

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