Row2Recovery ex-servicemen prepare for Atlantic row

The amputee rowers will be competing against about 16 others teams

Four ex-servicemen are training to become what is believed to be the first all-amputee team to row the Atlantic.

The veterans, led by Cayle Royce will take on the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge later this year.

Trooper Royce, 29, from Dartmouth in Devon, suffered serious injuries serving in Afghanistan that put him in a coma for several months.

He will be joined by Paddy Gallagher, of Cambridgeshire, Nigel Rogof, from Hereford and Devon's Lee Spencer.

"Sixty per cent of rowing is all leg work. In that sense we will have to work a bit harder," said Trooper Royce.

Cayle Royce: I think we will still be competitive

The Row2Recovery team will be competing against about 16 other teams in the race, which is scheduled to start in December from La Gomera in the Canary Islands and finish about six weeks later in Antigua.

Trooper Royce said: "The amputations shouldn't have too much of an effect on us.

"I think we will still be competitive.

"Sea conditions will dictate a lot of how the race progresses, so I think it will be an exciting challenge and I think the other crews will have a bit of competition."

He will be joined by:

• Mr Gallagher, 30, from Cambridgeshire, who was injured in Afghanistan while serving with the Irish Guards

• Mr Rogof, 56, from Hereford, who lost his leg while taking part in an RAF parachuting display

• Mr Spencer, 46, from Yelverton in Devon, who lost a leg when he was struck by debris when he stopped to rescue a seriously injured motorist on the M3 in January last year.