Rachel Smith and Lin Griesel, who plan to row the 2,935 miles from La Gomera to Antigua in November 2007 to raise money for Breast Cancer Care, collected over £2,000 with the help of 14 volunteers, when the RFU kindly gave them permission to hold a bucket collection at the England v Samoa match held at Twickenham on 26th November.

Rachel Smith was happy with the reception at the event, “Many people already knew about the Atlantic Rowing Race or about our challenge and were very supportive. Those who didn’t know about it, got the chance to find out what’s involved. It was a great day and the support was really encouraging. We raised around 1.5% of our overall fundraising target!”

With the cold weather of the day, the ladies were particularly grateful for their matching fleeces, donated to the fundraising challenge by Dave Seales at Nike. Julian Morgan from FXMS then gave the fleeces the Atlantic Rowing Challenge touch, by finishing them with an embroidered campaign logo.

Lin Griesel thanked everyone involved, on behalf of the cause, “Nike and FXMS were so helpful and very kind with all their support, as were all the others. From those who helped with the collections, right through to Dave Rogers for taking the pictures, we are so grateful.”

Rachel and Lin will be starting the Atlantic Rowing Challenge at La Gomera and will be rowing, without help, to Antigua - a journey that will hopefully take around 70 days. During the race, they expect to experience extremes of blistering heat, stark conditions and 30-foot waves.

The women aim to smash the current British women’s Record for rowing the Atlantic whilst completing the race. As well as setting a new record, another challenge is to raise £90,000+ for Breast Cancer Care, the UK’s leading provider of breast cancer information and support. With the support of some of the greatest sporting women, they are bound to be a winning team.

To support the Atlantic Rowing Challenge and Breast Cancer Care, please visit www.justgiving.com/atlanticrowing