Even though he's retired, Sir Steve Redgrave is helping support indoor rowing through the working of the Steve Redgrave Fund.

Any list of the greatest ever Olympians would, without a doubt, have Sir Steve Redgrave on it. As a five times gold medallist he has done much for the promotion of the Games and the sport of rowing in the UK.

In fact, earlier this year he was voted as the greatest English sportsman ever in a survey by the Commonwealth Games England.

And despite having officially retired from professional sport, Sir Steve is keen to promote rowing to the next generation of Olympians.

This desire to share his passion and help disadvantaged people and their communities led to the creation of the Steve Redgrave Fund.

Within five years of its creation the charity had managed to reach the £5 million milestone and help a number of charities including Children with Leukaemia, the Association of Children's Hospices and the Perthes Association.

Most recently Sir Steve has been involved in the Race Across America - a 3,000 mile long cycle race which runs from California on the west coast of the US to Maryland on the east coast. He is being joined by seven fellow rowers who have the collective aim of raising £100,000 for Sport Relief and the Steve Redgrave Fund.

The challenge, often called the world's toughest bike race, traditionally takes around eight days to complete but Sir Steve said the team will "push [themselves] to the limit".

"I was looking for a challenge that would enable me to raise money for my charity, something I am very passionate about but would also challenge me to train hard again and get some real fitness back," he explained.

However, the charity does not just focus on large fundraising events but conducts day-to-day work in schools with Concept2 to encourage kids to take up indoor rowing.

Around 100 schools have benefited by being able to purchase indoor rowing machines with money received from the charity. This was then supported with training from Concept2.

The charity's official website explained that the support is there to "help teachers maximise the machines to add value to all areas of the curriculum, helping to improve confidence, self esteem and learning".

Birmingham was the location of the first scheme which was launched in 2004. This was then followed up with the creation of similar programmes in Sandwell, Glasgow and Cardiff in 2005 and Rochdale in 2008.

Southampton was the latest city to benefit from the initiative when it joined in 2009.

It is estimated that 125,000 young people have been involved so far and this number is set to rise as more cities get involved.

Two years ago the Steve Redgrave Fund took further steps in its mission to help disadvantaged children by joining up with Sport Relief.

Originally the charity was formed in 2001 under the name the Sir Steve Redgrave Charitable Trust, then in 2008 it teamed up with Sport Relief and both charities are now managed by Comic Relief.

This partnership means that 50 per cent of all money raised by the Steve Redgrave Fund goes towards Sports Relief to help with their efforts in improving the lives of children both in the UK and across the world.

In short, the Steve Redgrave Fund shows how much of a difference sport can make in a person's life and anyone who is interested in raising more money for the cause can find out more information on the charity's website.