Rachel, 17, in bid for Atlantic rowing record

12:01am Monday 1st October 2007

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A BOLTON teenager is bidding to row her way 2,500 nautical miles across the Atlantic and into the world record books - twice.

At 17-years-old, and with just six months' experience of the sport, Rachel Flanders will become the youngest person ever to have rowed across an ocean if her team of Atlantic Angels' complete the Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race.

The four blonde oarswomen are also hoping to shave seven days off the all-female record for the journey, which currently stands at 67 days, 7 hours and 20 minutes.

They will set off from La Gomera, in the Canary Islands, on December 2, with the aim of arriving in English Harbour, Antigua, by January 31.

Bolton School sixth form pupil Rachel, from Heaton, is among the only women's four to enter what is widely held to be the world's toughest rowing event. And they have set themselves a £250,000 sponsorship target to raise cash for cancer charities.

TV presenter Ben Fogle and double Olympic Gold Medal rower, James Cracknell, took part in the race in 2005.

Rachel, who has been a swimmer for 12 years, said: "The race appealed to me after I heard about Ben Fogle's experience and I saw an internet advert for a fourth Atlantic Angels' team member.

"I only met the other women three weeks ago but we've bonded really well. I'm quite scared as I saw the little boat for the first time last week and it was a reality check. I just have to keep my eye on the finish line and seeing my family and friends again."

Rachel's teammates are 32-year-old Clair Desborough, from Henley-on-Thames, Sarah Duff, 24, from Oxfordshire and Fiona Waller, 32, a cervical cancer survivor from London. The women have named their ship Faceboat and are asking 25,000 people to make donations on their website and post images of themselves to be printed on the hull of the boat.

The team will face severe sleep deprivation, rowing continuously in alternate pairs for two-hour stretches. They plan to consume 7,000 calories of freeze-dried army rations each day and make their own drinking water with a desalinator.

"Although I am still young, I have no doubt that this will be the most challenging and most amazing thing I will ever do in my life," said Rachel.

Rachel's father, Richard, said he and her mother, Louise, were "very proud". He said: "We're a little scared but she is determined and we have every confidence she will complete the race."

Supporters are asked to donate £10 at www.atlantic-angels.co.uk. Money goes to Cancer Research UK, Helen Rollason Heal Cancer Charity and Trinity Hospice, in London.