Women pull into London to set round-Britain rowing record

A WEARY crew of female seafarers were celebrating on land last night after becoming the first women to row non-stop around the coast of Britain.

The four-strong team moored at Tower Bridge in London after spending more than 50 days at sea covering 2,000 miles.

As they sipped champagne and rested tired muscles, the quartet spoke of the "fantastic feeling" of completing the gruelling course.

It took them 51 days, 16 hours and 42 minutes to row around the British mainland - about three weeks longer than they expected.

They set off on 1 June as part of the Virgin GB Row 2010.

Billed as the world's toughest rowing race, it pitted the four - Belinda Kirk, 35, from Bristol, Laura Thomasson, 23, from Dover, Beverley Ashton, 29, from Wantage in Oxfordshire, and 50-year-old American Angela Madsen - against a men's team.

But two weeks into the challenge, the men gave up, leaving the Seagals, as the four are known, to carry on alone.

Bad weather and strong winds made the task even more challenging than originally envisaged. The crew were also hit by a string of setbacks. Huge waves almost sunk the vessel at one point, and other boats also proved to be a problem.

Ms Madsen, a wheelchair-bound former US marine, broke her finger after setting off a flare to warn off a ship on collision course with the rowers.

Earlier this week, an on-board power failure meant the women had to ration drinking water.

And the last 24 hours of the race they ran out of food.

But, overcoming these setbacks, the four rowed over the finishing line yesterday.