Row4Charity coming home

The Bexhill Trust Challenger crossed the finish line on Friday night and landed in Mauritius at 23.40 BST having beaten their nearest rivals by 300 miles.

It was a difficult end to an epic journey as the crew experienced last-minute hold-ups with the rudder and struggled to the end, determined to bring the boat in at night in spite of the danger of striking the coral reef.

They had an emotional reunion with the family and loved ones they hadn't seen for more than two months and celebrated with a breakfast fry-up washed down with cold beer.

The plane carrying Nick and Phil McCorry and Ian Allen is due to touch down at Heathrow at 7.30 this Friday morning where they will be met by Row4Charity shore manager Geoff Dixon, former crew member Kieran Cahill, and Graham Dawes who is their coach from Bexhill Rowing Club, among others.

Team dad Steve McCorry hired a limousine to bring them back to Bexhill and welcome them home with a celebration lunch at the Waterfront where owners Jackie and Paul Hamilton have held many Row4Charity fundraising events.

Matt Hellier is expected to fly back to Britain on July 10.

This week Nick McCorry told the Observer he was relieved the race was over - even though the team is already talking about competing in the Atlantic Ocean Race at the end of this year.

He said: "We had a lot of problems with our rudder. It snapped off basically 108 miles out from Mauritius so we were only two or three days away.

"We repaired it and it snapped again. We ended up tying it on with strings and straps and bungees. It cost us really about a full day's rowing...doing repairs and not being able to steer or row. That was the biggest trouble, apart from that it was the heavy seas and the constant battering from the wind and rain.

"It took 68 days in total. The first ten to fifteen days the weather was heavier than had ever been seen before in any race. We lost a lot of gear in the first twelve days when we flipped on our side and nearly capsized. That was a massive eyeopener.

"We'd just changed over to row our two hour stint and got hit by a rogue wake, not going with the wind, and it swamped the boat and put us on our side which meant we were halfway to going over, and the cabin was upside down, and me and Matt were basically lucky to stay in the boat. It swamped the whole boat. I would've said it was about a fifty foot wave. There were regularly forty-five, fifty foot waves.

"It was a bit of a shock but we got through it and carried on rowing and forgot about it."

Row4Charity will continue to fundraise for the Stroke Association and have a target of 15,000 - make any donations to www.row4charity.co.uk, or call in at the Waterfront.

This week tributes were paid to Row4Charity from supporters and friends, including Councillor Chris Starnes of the Bexhill Trust, the charitable arm of the Charter Trustees, which provided 10,000 funding for the team.

Cllr Starnes said: "It was a gamble. They could have sunk a mile out, and that would have been awful...but they said they were going to win, and they did. They went, they rowed, and they conquered. And the publicity generated from this remarkable achievement you could not have bought for 10,000. The race has been on websites all around the world.

"The Trust is really in awe of these young men and their incredible achievement. We are so proud of them."