Team from Norfolk set Mid-Pacific rowing record as first male trio

Cutu Serruys, Luca Feser, and Matt Siely (left to right) completed the row from California to Hawaii

A team from the UK and Switzerland has set a new record as the first male trio to row across the Mid-Pacific Ocean.

Team HODL (Hold on for Dear Life) made the 2,800-mile (4,506km) crossing from California to Hawaii in 38 days, 16 hours and 19 minutes.

Previous to Matt Siely, Cutu Serruys and Luca Feser, just 82 people on 33 boats have ever managed to complete it.

Mr Feser, originally from Switzerland and who now lives in Norwich, said they "felt the energy to keep going".

Luca Feser, Matt Siely and Cutu Serruys (left to right) prepared for 18 months for the row

The team aimed to highlight the need to clean up the "garbage patch" - a huge area of the ocean where plastic and marine debris collects.

Organisers of the event, World's Toughest Row, said Mr Feser, Mr Serruys, from Wymondham, and Norfolk-born Mr Siely, said the team had raised more than £8,000 for the Ocean Cleanup charity.

The trio trained together in Norfolk ahead of the row across the Mid-Pacific

Mr Feser said when the team left Monterey in California they saw "a couple of whales".

He said on the eighth day of the challenge "we had such a low".

"But there's a saying which is 'our highs are never as high and our lows are never as low' and that kept us going through that day," he said.

The team were greated by friends and family when they arrived in Hawaii

Mr Siely, who now lives in Bournemouth, said the finish was "extraordinary".

He said: "It's definitely been a life high, I don't know what can follow on from that.

"Luckily we worked really well as a team for the challenge and just went for it.

"It's bonkers, nuts, I don't know why we did it but it is amazing."

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook and Instagram. Got a story? Email [e-mail] or get in touch via WhatsApp on 0800 169 1830