Thank you for visiting my fundraising page.

From 12 noon on Saturday 7th February through to 12 noon on Sunday 8th February 2009, I will be attempting to complete a 24 hour row on a Concept 2 rowing machine (the type they have in most gyms). Additionally, along with two friends, Michael Gough and Paul Gould from the Free Spirits Virtual Rowing Team www.freespiritsrowing.com who are also participating in this, I hope to set a World Record for the Lightweight (under 75kg), 40-49 age category (my friends have their own targets being Heavyweights). My target is firstly to try and complete the full 24 hours and secondly to try and row more than 200,000 metres during the time.

(To give an idea of the difficulty of this, it took me 5 months to FULLY recover from setting a British 100km record last year and this is potentially twice the distance). Completing the 24 hours is by no means a certainty and at best I would say a "possibility". Just staying awake will be difficult enough, let alone rowing 8-10 thousand metres per hour!

Owing to a need for a central single venue, I will be doing this at Kenilworth Golf Club so unfortunately not exactly local to me in Sale.

Choosing a charity is always awkward as one's gain is another's loss but I have decided to raise funds for the new Manchester Children's University Hospital as I think anyone who has children would generally give whatever support was needed to make a sick or poorly child better. Additionally, with my wife being a registered childminder there are many children who are part of my day to day life.

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Central Manchester & Manchester Children's University Hospitals Charity gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

I really don't like asking people to sponsor me (especially with the current financial climate), however, I'm not looking for large donations (although welcome of course) and if you can manage just a couple of £'s that's absolutely fine.

Should any companies (who have company T-Shirts with logos/advertising) wish to sponsor me, I'd be happy to don one of their T-shirts for an hour per £25 pledge (you'd have to provide me with the shirt - medium by the way). I promise I'd wash it before returning it. The last hour (should I get that far) is a £50 minimum as all the photos are likely to be at the end

Well, the deed is done. During the 24 hours, I manage to row a total of 176,430 metres and after sending the logged computer file to the USA for ratification, I can confirm that this is now a new WORLD RECORD for 40-49 year old, Lightweight category

It was incredibly tough and after 13 hours was in serious doubt as I was being "very ill" to put it politely. My colleagues managed 254km and 251km respectively but did not manage to break their targeted world records (this time).

I would like to thank all those who sponsored me and supported me throughout the build up to the event and through the 24 hours also.

Never again? - Hmmm - we'll have to see (I think I could have gone further). Definitely not for a long while though!

David Plumb