ROWERS at Bournemouth University set a brand new record in a 48-hour rowing challenge while raising funds for new equipment.

This year the university boat club is swelling with new members inspired by Britain’s medal-winning athletes during the London 2012 Olympics, and they need to raise £8,000 for a new boat.

Looking for an eye-catching fundraiser the students decided to set a challenging target for a new UK record, monitored by exercise equipment firm Concept2, for the furthest distance covered in 48 hours of non-stop rowing on a machine.

Kicking off on Wednesday at noon in the student union, club members covered a whopping 653,926m by Friday lunchtime, working in half hour shifts through the day and night, raising more than £1,800 in the process.

Organiser Jacob Lee, 19, said: “It has been a fun challenge, we have had loads of people asking what we are up to, particularly during the overnight shifts, and some even put their names down to do a shift if one of our members didn’t turn up.

“We wanted to do something which people could see was hard work, it is pretty painful rowing for that long while trying to do your best. It may be the first record set for this but we wanted it to be difficult to break.

“It costs about £8,000 for a decent second-hand boat, and our equipment all costs quite a lot to maintain. A lot of people have been really generous and this will set us well on the way.”

The event, part of the university’s BUnique week to encourage students to take up new activities, was broadcast online on a live video feed which attracted messages of support from as far away as Australia.

Visit gofundme.com/1k6z8g to donate. Money was also raised for MacMillan Cancer Support.