Oarsome Chance raise £5000 during Charity row round Isle of Wight
The team of five rowers from the Gosport and Havant-based youth charity set sail for the 50-mile trip around the Isle of Wight in a wooden rowing boat on Monday, August 30.
In a tribute to her father Jim Seager who single-handedly took on the same challenge himself almost 50 years ago and completed it in just 14 hours, Carly Seager convinced four of her other Oarsome Chance teammates to join her in the mission.
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Hide AdThe team were unlucky on the day, setting off from Stokes Bay at 4am experiencing extremely rough conditions, slowing their progress and rendering their planning useless.
After almost 16 hours of rowing and facing strong headwinds, the team reluctantly accepted help from the support vessel, returning to Stokes Bay at 7.45pm and therefore completing the course.
Despite their disappointment at not rowing the entire course unaided, they have been buoyed up by support and raised a total of almost £5,000 for the youth charity, Oarsome Chance.
Oarsome Chance provides opportunities and support to disadvantaged young people in the Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant areas, bringing them back from the fringes of society.
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Hide AdThey aim to improve their education and employability aspects by developing programmes and using sport as an incentive.
John Gillard, Oarsome Chance principal, accompanied the team over the course of the mission, on board the support vessel.
‘We couldn’t be more proud of our team,’ he said.
‘They were in fantastic spirits throughout, even when things got really tough out there, we couldn’t have asked any more of them. We’re so grateful to all of the people who dug deep and helped them raise such an amazing amount – it made their hard efforts all worthwhile.
The team are keen to continue their fundraising and whilst they were satisfied with their efforts, they are determined to take on the challenge again.