Campaigner to row round island roads

8:47am Saturday 15th September 2007

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ENERGETIC fundraiser Gus Mckechnie will be taking to the road today to row around the Isle of Wight.

The Dorchester fundraiser hopes to become the first person to row around the island using one of only a handful of special streetrowers in the country.

And Mr Mckechnie will be using the three-wheeled contraption, which is powered by a rowing movement, to complete the round trip of the island.

Mr McKechnie, 32, says he was forced to adopt the more unusual method of circumnavigating the island after bad weather this summer meant the cancellation of several attempts to row around the island in the more traditional way.

He said: "I will be going around the island on what is literally a rowing machine on wheels and will be the first person to do it."

He said that the challenge was the latest in a series of challenges he hopes to complete this year in memory of his brother Andrew who died in 2003 from haemachromatosis, a genetic condition which causes the blood to produce too much iron and leads to organ failure.

He and a team of supporters hope run, cycle, swim and row more than four million metres.

During the summer he has already spent time on top of Red Funnel ferries on a rowing machine going back and forth over the Solent. And over Cowes week he helped his team to row over a million metres as part of the challenge.

Once the Isle of Wight challenge has been completed he hopes to cycle from John o' Groats to Lands End and compete in the New York Marathon.

Gus, who also has haemachromatosis, hopes by keeping fit and active he will stave off the main symptoms.

Further information on all Mr Mckechnie's challenges is available at www.bombayduck.org