A 14-year-old who holds the world record for rowing 2,000 metres on an indoor rowing machine is planning a rowing challenge across the English Channel next summer.

Callum Jones said he was inspired by Sarah Outen, a classroom assistant at his boarding school in Oxford, who covered 4,000 miles in her boat Serendipity earlier this year.

"Sarah is really inspirational in getting the idea in the first place, managing to do it, and having the will power to keep going when it got hard", Mr Jones told the Oxford Mail.

Ms Outen, 24, raised £26,000 for Arthritis Care after spending 124 days at sea.

She said the most important thing with any dream, no matter how unrealistic it seems, was to keep focused on your goal.
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"Whatever other people say to you, you must have self belief, and focus on the end product," she added.

Callum, a member of Newark Rowing Club, made the news last July when he rowed two kilometres at the Concept2 headquarters in Nottingham.