Fancy a ticket to win

four girls and a boat?

All female rowing team launch lottery

to raise funds for round Britain

record attempt

Four ordinary but

intrepid women plan to row 2010 miles around Britain in 2010 to raise money for

the Help for Heroes charity. Nicknamed the ‘SeaGals’, the girls are inviting

companies and generous members of the public to buy tickets for a unique prize

draw to win the rights to their expedition as they undertake the extraordinary

challenge to be the first women to row around Britain.

The

prize draw, set-up to help the SeaGals raise funds for their chosen charity

Help for Heroes and to ensure a safe trip, will see them raffling themselves

off for £150 a ticket.  The holder of the

winning ticket will be awarded ‘lead sponsorship’ of the SeaGals and their

expedition.  Not only will the winner get

to add their name to the title of the SeaGals expedition, they’ll also have the

opportunity to fully brand the team’s 24ft rowing boat and their oars.

Taking

part in the inaugural ‘GB Row Challenge 2010’, the SeaGals are rowing in a

specially designed ocean rowing boat competing against other, all-male, crews. They

will row through the treacherous waters of the English

Channel, the North and Irish seas and the North

Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to set a ****ss World Record by becoming

the first women to row around Britain.

Expedition

leader Belinda Kirk, 34, from Bristol, said: “This is a unique and testing

challenge and we really need financial support to give us the best possible

chance of success.  We will be completely

unaided throughout the race, which means there won’t be any back-up boats or assistance

with navigation during the month long expedition. We’re urging companies and

individuals to buy a lottery ticket and help us in our bid to set a World

Record, undertake an unbelievable test of our own physical and mental endurance, and raise awareness and funds for Help for Heroes.”

The SeaGals

have already received encouragement from some illustrious supporters. TV

presenter and explorer Bear Grylls said: “This is a great challenge for a great

cause and undertaken by great girls!” and explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes added: “This

sounds like a really worthwhile but arduous challenge. Very good luck to your

team with it and your fundraising for such a good cause.” 

The race commences from Tower Bridge

in London on 1 June 2010 and will

take around 26 days to complete. 

The ‘Oarsome Foursome’ includes Angela

Madsen, who already holds world records for being the first women to

row across the Indian Ocean and the first disabled woman to row across two

oceans, and Amy Green, one of the first all-woman team to row from London to

Paris in 2008.  The SeaGals skipper,

Belinda Kirk, is also no stranger to gruelling challenges having completed 12

major international expeditions in the past 15 years, including a trip to China’s Desert of Death. 

Finally Laura Thomasson- the SeaGals youngest crew member- is a Royal

Navy Nurse and has twice represented the Royal Navy at The World Indoor Rowing

Championships.  She has also coxed crews

rowing across the English Channel and taken

part in charity endurance races including the London Southampton run in aid of

the ‘Not forgotten’ association.

For

more information on the prize-draw and to obtain one of only 100 lottery tickets

up for grabs, please visit www.seagals.co.uk.