A ROWING Club held a 24-hour continuous rowathon to help raise funds for new fine rowing boats to accommodate new members and the start of a women’s squad this year.

Penarth Rowing Club's feat took 30 members to complete, taking alternate rowing shifts between 15 and 30 minutes long at a time.

Many other members, family and friends visited to support and cheer on the exhausted rowers, including organiser and supervisor Rhys Savory, who spent the entire 24 hours awake and coordinating the events, even in the small hours while the other helpers succumbed to the comfort of the boathouse floor to sleep.

There was also a live feed of updates on twitter and facebook throughout the event, which saw many supportive comments flooding in from the community as the rowers battled fatigue and boredom, before the Penarth RC stall opened up on the promenade for the Penarth Festival on the Saturday.

The heat of the afternoon made for even tougher work for the last few hours of the feat, which culminated at 3pm and just before the downhill derby, but hundreds of passers-by stopped to cheer on the rowers to get them across the line.

One of the rowers, who had a total stint of 90 minutes, and also crashed in the downhill derby, said: “It was fantastic, it has hopefully given us a lot of good publicity as a small club. I was very proud to be a part of it”.

There was also a huge buzz surrounding the club’s ‘1-minute challenge’, in which anybody and everybody tried their hand at rowing to see what distance they could row on a machine, beside the 24-hour event, in one minute.

People of all ages took on the challenge and captain Andrew Zacharias said: “It’s fantastic to see so many local people interested and engaged in our sport; this is exactly what we’re trying to achieve as a club.”

With a final crescendo and cheer from a crowd, the last rower, Henry Ward, hit the 24-hour mark and rounded up a total distance of 180 miles; the equivalent of rowing as-the-crow-flies from Cardiff to Dublin.

The day was rounded off when club officers and members took the opportunity to present the Penarth RNLI branch with a cheque for £185, which the club raised earlier in the year with a charity quiz night, held in the yacht club.

It was a huge success with many local people getting involved with the club.