"We will push our bodies to the limits to stop eating disorder sufferers from doing the same."

From the 23rd-26th June 2013, 8 women (plus 3 subs and a cox) from Corpus Christi College Boat Club, Oxford, will be rowing 180km from Oxford to London to raise money for the eating disorder charity 'Beat'. This charity is of particular significance to us because one member of our crew successfully overcame a severe eating disorder in part due to incredible support from Beat, alongside the motivation to build physical strength provided by rowing. Having been hospitalised for 9 months with a diagnosis of anorexia, she is now fully recovered and volunteers as a Young Ambassador for the charity.

The challenge will involve three full days of rowing, made up of one half day followed by two full days and then another half day to allow us to make the most of our launch party and welcome party for support and fundraising purposes on the first and last days. We are the first female crew to attempt this feat, so it will be quite a challenge!

Over the next few months we will be training, fundraising and raising awareness for this event, and we hope that you will join us in our endeavours to raise money for the truly worthwhile and necessary work that Beat does to improve, and even save, the lives of thousands of eating disorder sufferers nationwide. Our intense land training to build up strength and stamina will be carried out on Concept2 ergs, which is why I'm sure users of indoor rowers will understand the pain and endurance we are anticipating in the run up to the event!!

We recently launched our Just Giving page to start taking donations and have been overwhelmed by the support we've received so far. We are currently trying to publicise the event as widely as possible, with the view that if we are going to put ourselves through that much pain in the name of charity then we may as well to everything we possibly can to raise a significant amount of money and make it worth our while. We would therefore appreciate any support you are able to offer!! We would love it if as many people as possible would be willing to sponsor us and/or spread the word about our challenge by sending the link to email contacts or posting it on social media sites!

The link for donations and more info is: www.justgiving.com/londonrow

Our progress can also be followed on our Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/CCCBCforBeat

For more information, please feel free to contact Esther Rich at esther.rich@ccc.ox.ac.uk

Thanks so much!!