A HEXHAM man is hoping his paddle power will help him row across the Atlantic Ocean as a team of four.

Dicky Taylor (31), now living in Houston, USA, will be joined by Alnwick’s Peter Robinson (31), who he met while at Mowden Hall School in Newton, and George Biggar (31) and Stuart Watts (33), both from the south of the country, in tackling the 3,000 nautical mile Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in December.

Starting at La Gomera in the Canary Islands, they are hoping to reach their destination in Antigua in under 45 days.

Naming themselves The Four Oarsmen, they are already in training for what is regarded as one of the most gruelling physical challenges and successfully completed a 24-hour, indoor row in Alnwick’s Real Fitness gym.

Taking it in turns to row two hours and then sleep two hours, the team covered 610,000 metres during the challenge to kickstart their fund-raising campaign in aid of both mental health charity MIND and Spinal Research.

Immediately following the rowing extravaganza, the four friends undertook a two day hike of the Cheviots covering a total distance of 80 miles!

Dicky said: “We were really happy with how the row went and it has taught us a lot of lessons. The two hours in between each row sounds like a long time, but by the time you manage to get to sleep you’re only having about 45 or 50 minutes sleep.

“It has definitely been a wake-up call for us. We have done a two-four row before then, so it was really hard putting six of them back-to-back.

“I was pretty happy with how we coped and we have all learned a lot about our bodies, and especially a lot about nutrition.

“The row is a year out and so we’ve a long time to take a step back and focus on whatever weaknesses we may have, although I’m sure the time will fly over and be here before we know it.”

The Atlantic row is deemed a tough challenge to some top rowers, never mind a group of four mates with limited experience in a boat! But they all are prepared to work hard to master their technique and post a challenging time, all in order to raise money for two worthwhile causes.

The decision to sign up for the row followed a chat between Dicky and George who wanted to do a big fund-raising campaign in memory of George’s mother Anne Fisher, who battled silently with mental health problems.

They then linked up with Peter and Stuart and added the Spinal Research charity to the cause for the work they do for Peter’s friend Ben Kende, who suffered a spinal cord injury while playing rugby in Hong Kong, where Peter lived and worked for a few years.

Dicky said: “Peter and Stuart had done the John O’ Groats to Land’s End challenge and were looking for the next step up, so we all decided that the Atlantic row would be perfect for us.

“It’s dubbed as the toughest row in the world, and I know people who have done ultra marathons and iron mans who put the row ahead of that, so it is obviously going to be a massive challenge.

“Three of the four of us are single so we’re not really going to have the opportunity to do this when we settle down, so we’ll be putting everything into it.

“We are really focused with the training and mastering our technique as it is crucial.”

More details and donations can be made by visiting www.thefouroarsmen.com.