According to Churchill himself, he had nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat, attributes which, while they probably didn't get him much action down Ritzy's, served him admirably during the war. They'd have also come in pretty useful if he'd tried to take a leaf out of either Martin Surrey or Neil Rhodes' book. People who actually manage to read this newsletter may remember Yeovil man Martin Surrey as the guy who was trying to row a million metres in ten days. The diary of his attempt is still up on the news section of our web site (http://www.therowingcompany.com/v4/news.htm) and it makes for pretty scary reading as his body rebelled somewhat against the stress put on it. Eventually he was forced to abandon his attempt 750,000 metres in. Despite it all he sounded cheerfully upbeat about it. I still think it's do-able. If you avoid injury and you sort out your diet and training beforehand I reckon it's definitely possible. The main problem for me was coping with the boredom and keeping my splits low enough. I found that when people rowed alongside me it made all the difference. I've not lost my taste for it; I may try an individual 100,000 metres for Red Nose Day, and next year, well who knows?Fellow Yeovil dweller Neil Rhodes (what is it they put in the water down there) has now stepped up to have a crack at the distance and is aiming to compete it in nine days. Nine days. Holy smoke. Neil's doing the row in an attempt to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Relief and is aiming at being sponsored for a pound a metre. Anybody who can help with sponsorship can contact Neil on [email protected]