Rowers’ Atlantic record bid

Monday 10th December 2007, 11:10AM GMT.

A Shrewsbury man is taking part in one of the most gruelling rowing races in the world as he attempts to set a new speed record.

Niall McCann, 26, and his crewmate James Burge, are hoping to become the fastest ever two-man rowing crew to cross the Atlantic.

They have already set the world record for rowing a million metres on a rowing machine.

The pair are attempting to row 3,000 miles from the Canary Islands to Antigua as part of the Atlantic Rowing Race, which began last week.

But they had to delay their start by two days after Mr McCann suffered an infection when arriving in the Canary Islands.

He said: “My arm was infected with what turned out to be a highly aggressive bacterium that advanced down my arm quite quickly.”

He was taken to A&E and had scar tissue taken out by a surgeon and was given other treatment which caused the delay. After setting off in 22nd place, two days after the other teams, the pair were last night in 10th place.

They are raising money for Bristol Zoo Gardens’ primate projects in Cameroon. Mr McCann now lives in Bristol but his parents, Anna and Seamus, still live in Shrewsbury.