THE BROTHERHOOD / GREAT AMAZON RIVER RACE / PHOEBE WARD

After their successes in the grueling 22-mile Great River Race, in which they defeated both the Great Britain Masters Team and the British champions, and more recently setting a world record for crossing the English Channel, both in a traditional Chinese Dragonboat, The Brotherhood are off on their most daring, daunting and challenging mission so far...

The crew are competing in The Great Amazon River Race, taking place over 3 days from 19th September with both international and local native crews competing for the coveted 'Kings of The Amazon' title.

In keeping with the Brotherhood ethos, the challenge will provide an extreme test of both mental and physical endurance whilst raising money for UK children's charities.

The Amazon proceeds will raise money for 6-year-old Phoebe Ward, who suffers from quadriplegic cerebral palsy. Phoebe was born 3 ½ months premature, weighing only 1lb 10oz. She underwent 2 major operations in the first 2 weeks of her life; one on her bowel, the other on her heart

Despite her daily challenges Phoebe is a happy 6-year-old little girl and The Brotherhood are raising money for medical assessments and equipment that will make major improvements to Phoebe’s life.

The proceeds will be spent as follows: A walking frams that provides the appropriate support and will enable Phoebe learn to become independantly mobile - £2000; A specially engineered car seat - £2,400; A referral to a disabled children's centre in Oswestry, Wales, where experts will assess Phoebe and prescribe specific equipment for her disabilities - £1,750. Total - £6,150. In addition and dependant on the generosity of our sponsors, we would like to purchase a specially designed garden swing, however,  the previous items are the priority.

The boys will have to brave the treacherous waters of the Peruvian Amazon in self-made balsa wood rafts and face the frightening prospect of falling prey to 30 foot Anacondas, Piranha, water snakes, Giant Catfish, Electric Eels, Candiru (Weaver) Fish, 24 foot Cayman Crocodiles and, perhaps most worryingly, the Matses Indians who live on that part of the Amazon and claim to be partial to a bit of "human"; this mission is definitely not for the faint-hearted!

Brotherhood Captain and former Atlantic Rowing Race competitor Richard Pullan remarked: "Our training sessions and The Great River Race provide a sound foundation for this challenge but it will be all the more challenging because, unlike some of the very nasty and gruesome things we encountered in the Thames, most of what's in the Amazon will be very much alive and probably quite hungry".

Bear Grylls, the renowned adventurer and survival expert commented: "The boys have repeatedly shown their ability to dig in and dig deep when the going gets tough and I only hope they can hold it together when things start digging into them. The Amazon is particularly treacherous, simply because most people are not even aware of some of the things that live in and around the river, let alone how to react and deal with them when encountered.” It's fair to say that the typical survival package of a bottle of 'Factor 15' and a can of insect repellent will not suffice for this challenge.

The Great Amazon River Race is broken down into 3 daily stages of approximately 60km with each taking roughly 6-8 hours to complete. The start is at dawn in Nauta on the morning of 19th September and passes through Porvenir and Tamshiyacu before finishing in Bella Vista Nanay. After each stage the exhausted crews will sleep in bivouacs in the Amazonian jungle, where a whole host of additional jungle-nasties including venomous snakes, scorpions, spiders and wild boar will be keen to snack on some prime Brotherhood beef!