Rowing Marine faces challenges on record attempt

As day five of Lee Spencer’s row across the Atlantic came to a close, technical and physical problems began to stack up.

At present ‘the Rowing Marine’, who left Gibraltar last Tuesday as the symbolic start to his epic solo unaided row to French Guiana, is laying low and “won’t be rowing any time soon”.

“When you row an ocean, a few things are going to go wrong,” Lee told his support crew back in the UK yesterday morning.

Posting on his Facebook page they said: “He had a really bad night with various technical issues which have been compounded by 'very bad' sickness and diarrhoea.”

“Both problems struck at around 9pm last night [Sunday], by then he had covered a very respectable 43 nautical miles but then missed out on last night's rowing shift.”

They confirmed that Mr Spencer is laying low and waiting to receive down the line technical support and for his illness to subside.

Mr Spencer aims to be the first physically-disabled person to row solo and unsupported from mainland Europe to mainland America for a new Guinness World Record.

He is also attempting to beat the current able-bodied record of 96 days, 12 hours and 45 minutes, gaining a second Guinness World Record during his crossing.

Mr Spencer is aiming to raise awareness and money for the Royal Marines Charity and the Endeavour Fund.

Further information can be found at www.leespencer.co.uk. For donations please visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com/LeeJSpencer.