Store oarsmen make waves

SPENDING more than a week locked in a shopping centre might be a dream come true for shopaholics.

But for two friends who will be stuck in the St James Centre solidly for nine days, it is set to be slightly more challenging.

John Higson and Ant Clifford will be taking part in a gruelling challenge during their lock-in, spending 24 hours a day covering a total of 2345km on a rowing machine.

The pair will be adopting a pattern of two hours on and two hours off all day, starting on Friday.

The challenge is part of a training and fundraising exercise to prepare for the 2011 Atlantic Rowing Race in December, which will see them cover almost 5000km in 65 days.

Student Mr Higson, who lives in Newington, said: "We are hoping to cover around half the distance of the race on the rowing machines as there will be less resistance and we will be able to keep up a good pace.

"During opening hours, I think it will be good because there will be people there to spur us on.

"During night time, I think we'll be hammering our iPods though to stop the boredom.

"It's going to be nice to see how we work with each other."

He added: "I have been in touch with people who have done the race before and they said it takes a good four or five days before your body gets into any sort of rhythm."

The two friends - known as team H2Row - will be raising money for Cancer Research UK and BAPS Charities.

Mr Higson, 26, wants Cancer Research UK to benefit as his grandfather died from cancer and his mother has battled the illness.

Mr Clifford chose BAPS Charities - a global social service charity - as it was a cause important to a friend of his who died last year.

Web developer Mr Clifford, 32, said: "The big aim for me is to get an insight into what's going to happen with two hours of sleep and two hours awake. This will be quite a controlled experiment so it will give us an idea of how the stresses will manifest out at sea."

A spokeswoman for the St James Centre added: "Not only was the centre very keen to support this fundraiser, they have worked in conjunction with the Thistle Hotel to provide both a venue for the row and a room for the team to utilize during their two-hour-off periods."