It’s been a busy few weeks for the Brightsides rowing team as the start of our extraordinary cross-Atlantic row nears. We’ve appeared on TV, had a big sponsorship boost and a last-minute change of crew. Here, team leader Rod Adlington updates us on the latest news from the Brightsides camp.
It's really starting to hit home that we are only a couple of months away from the launch of our cross-Atlantic adventure.
We’ve just enjoyed our last outing in our wonderful boat Mrs Nelson on UK waters – before she is shipped off to Lanzarote ready for the start of the action on January 3.
The great news is that BBC Midlands Today was on hand to film the occasion at Draycote Water, near Rugby, and featured us in their nightly news programme on October XXX It’s brilliant publicity for our two charities – Get A-Head and Meningitis Now – and also a wonderful way for us to say a public thankyou to all our sponsors and supporters. And talking of sponsors, we’re thrilled to announce that leading Midlands law firm Lodders has come on board as one of our main backers.
They are a brilliant firm, and we are incredibly grateful to them and our other headline sponsor, Bromwich Hardy, for demonstrating their support to us. Having their backing means we are moving closer to our fundraising target of £250,000 for Meningitis Now and Get A-Head.
We’ve also announced a change to our team in the last few days. Unfortunately, Ryan Davin has had to pull out but our first reserve, Anna Williams, has stepped up to join us.
Anna – a 6ft 3ins powerhouse of an athlete from Lancashire - is a brilliant addition. She is a rower who has competed at Henley, is also a fell runner and an extreme athlete and has just completed a very arduous five-day mountain ultra-marathon in Sweden.
Needless to say, Anna has settled perfectly into the team and the rest of us are desperately trying to keep up with her.
Please do support us in any way you can, and until next time, happy days. As well as donating through our website, you can also donate via text message:
Text ROW1 to 70191 to donate £10
Text ROW3 to 70191 to donate £30