Our hearty congratulations go to Weybridge Rowing Club's Nigel Gower, who completed a million metres in a new world's fastest time of five days, eight hours, 38 minutes and 19 seconds. For those of you who took part in National Marathon Day, that's the equivalent of four marathons a day for six days on the trot. Or, to put it another way, Nigel started rowing at 6 a.m. each day and finished at 2 a.m. the next morning.This is the second time Nigel's attempted the Million Metres. Back in March 2001 he set a new record of seven days, four hours, 44 minutes and 21 seconds, a mark that was later improved by Yeovil's Neil Rhodes to six days 17 minutes and 55 seconds. So how did he find it a second time around? Painful, in a word. Although having said that, it was actually a lot easier the second time around. Last time I attempted to replace all the 9,500 calories I burned each day and I ended up rowing feeling bloated. This time I ate about a quarter of that and had a lot of Lucozade instead. I was able to pull lower splits for longer hours as a result of both that and of being better prepared physically. There was a point in the third day when it seemed like I'd been rowing forever, and I still had forever to row, but after that it wasn't quite so bad.As well as attempting to break Neil Rhodes' time, the aim of the row was to raise as much money as possible for Cancer Research UK, and Nigel's bucket-rattling paid off to the tune of 4265 pounds. Nigel, alongside his partner James Doust, will also be rowing the Atlantic in March 2004, and the Million Metre Challenge also helped to toughen him up for that.Both me and James are spending several hours each day on the machine. The crossing will take over two months so it's important to have a high level of endurance and stamina.For more information on the cross-Atlantic rowing attempt, or to help make a donation to Cancer Research UK, visit http://www.rowtheatlantic2003.com