A TEAM of students have completed an oar-some challenge - by rowing the distance from Bournemouth to Trafalgar Square for charity.

The rowers, from all year groups at Harewood College, were recently crowned National Schools League champions, and have now put their talents to use supporting the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, the chosen charity of one of the head boys from last year.

As a thank you to the support the college has given the trust, seven boys have been invited to attend the 25th anniversary memorial for Stephen Lawrence.

Principal, David Bromfield, said: “The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust is very much about supporting young people’s dreams and showing them they can be whatever they want to be.

“With every new challenge our rowers are proving that no distance is too far for them to overcome and every goal is possible if they work hard for it. Everything is achievable.

“Stephen Lawrence was a young man with ambition and we want to show our boys that nothing is beyond their reach.”

The event, which is to be attended by Baroness Doreen Lawrence, takes place at at St-Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar Square. With the venue in mind, the Harewood rowers decided to row the equivalent distance of Harewood College to Trafalgar Square – 146.4 kilometres.

Squad members were divided into four 10-man teams, with each team racing 36.6 kilometres. The winning team finished in two hours, 13 minutes and 30.1 seconds, a minute ahead of the runners-up, with third and fourth just a few minutes behind them.

With sponsorship monies still coming in, it is anticipated that the total funds raised will be in the region of £500.

This is the second major indoor rowing charity fundraising activity organised by Harewood College this term following February's Dover to Calais Channel Row, which raised almost £1,000 for Bournemouth Hospital.