THREE local women are to take on 500-miles of Britain’s turbulant sea in order to raise money for two mental health charities.

Rebecca Mingo, Sue Douglass and Anya Anstey, who all compete for Tamar and Tavy Gig Club based at Weir Quay, will take on the ‘GB Row Challenge from London to Land’s End — the Ultimate Rowing Challenge’ for Cornwall Mind and Devon Mind.

The three ladies will form a four-person crew — fourth member soon to be announced — named ‘A Shore Thing’, rowing in an ocean rowing boat navigating the busy shipping lanes against winds, tides and unpredictable British weather in continuous two hour shifts both day and night for 500 miles, non-stop and unaided.

Rebecca, 38, from Tavistock, said: ‘We are ordinary women taking on an extraordinary challenge to raise funds and awareness for mental health charity Mind.

‘As gig rowers, we are used to a single oar and fixed seats, which is the opposite of how we will row this event in the ocean rowing boat which involves two oars each and sliding seats. Therefore, there will be a lot of practice and training ahead of us to take on this challenge, which we are all looking forward to.

‘I really enjoy the challenge of training and build-up to endurance events and this will be a challenge both mentally and physically like none I have ever done before.’

Anya, 19, has been rowing for seven years. She said: ‘I have never taken part in anything like this before but I am really looking forward to the physical and mental challenges to come.’

While Sue, 37, who has been rowing for five years, said: ‘I wanted to really challenge myself physically and mentally and rowing from my home town (London) to my new home seems like a very fitting way to do that.’

The team needs to raise £10,000 overall, with £5,000 of the total used to hire the specialist ocean rowing boat with insurance and another £5,000 to cover skipper training, sea survival and navigation courses and other equipment needed to endure the challenge.

The team chose the two mental health charities to benefit from their fundraising efforts after learning that one in four people will suffer from some form of mental health issue at some time in their lives.

Rebecca, who has been rowing for 18 months, said: ‘It is a particular issue in rural areas and in the career types associated with the area, for example within care work and farming, so that’s one reason to focus on local funding.’

Mind supports people with mental health difficulties, providing recovery focused services and activities. It works with people to support them in achieving their goals and engaging in their local communities.

Mind has reported that every year, one in four people would experience a mental health problem but that hundreds of thousands of people were ‘still struggling’.

Rebecca added: ‘In order to take part in this row we need to raise money for the boat, equipment and sea survival courses.

‘To achieve this goal we will be organising several fundraising events around the local area — and the first will be a big breakfast on Sunday, March 8 at Princetown Community Hall from 9am. There will be a choice of full English, full vegetarian and various baps, as well as a raffle and a cake sale.

‘We are also looking for corporate sponsorship.’

GB Row Challenge is an extreme challenge which will take place in June, 2021. It is an event organised by rowers who have been there themselves and will help competitiors enjoy the race along the spectacular British coastline.

For more information on the team’s challenge, visit ashorething.uk or follow them on Facebook.

For more on the GB challenge, visit www.gbrowchallenge.com/london-2-lands-end

For more on Mind visit www.mind.org.uk