Novice rower prepares for Atlantic Ocean challenge

Clare O'Reilly is taking part in The World's Toughest Row alongside two other women

A woman with a fear of deep water is preparing to row across the Atlantic Ocean after being encouraged by someone she knows who has completed the challenge twice.

Clare O'Reilly, 46, from Devon had never rowed before starting to train for The World's Toughest Row, which she will do alongside Rosie Tong, 26, and Mel Jarman, 33.

The Row with the Flow crew will be setting off from the Canary Islands next week and will propel themselves 3,000 miles (4,828km) before finishing in Antigua.

Ms O'Reilly said: "I'm scared of all the things the row entails... but when someone who has done it twice and has a world record believes in you, it becomes a bit easier to believe in yourself."

As well as a fear of deep water, she also admitted being scared of big waves and the dark, and said she gets "seasick in a puddle".

Before getting a place in the boat 18 months ago, she had never used a rowing machine.

Her crew mates are both accomplished rowers and have been teaching her everything they know before setting off.

She said: "It's an incredible opportunity and it's a huge challenge and actually there's so few remote places still on the planet - it's a whites of your eyes moment, isn't it?

"We'll all get to see what we're made of - the opportunity came along, I've got an amazing two fellow crew mates... it more feels like a why not than a why."

Ms O'Reilly, who has three children, has previously done marathons and ultras but accepts this is a different type and scale of challenge.

She said: "The fourth crew member is the ocean in the fact we are not going to know what we are rowing into.

"There is only so much prep we can do, only so much training we can do.

"We are all as tip-top as we can be but we will contend with what we see when we are out there."

The crew is raising money for charities Ocean Generation and the Dame Kelly Holmes trust.