A CHAGFORD rower is setting off on a marathon journey later this month to row thousands of miles across the Pacific to raise money for Devon Air Ambulance.

Alison Wannell, who works for Devon Air Ambulance, will be setting off in a team of four other rowers to complete the 2,800-mile journey from Monterey on the Californian coast to Hawaii as part of the Atlantic Campaign’s World’s Toughest Row, which organises endurance ocean rowing races.

The challenge is set to start on June 12, but Alison has already flown out to the States to spend some time with family members before the row.

Alison said: ‘It’ll take five weeks minimum. We’ll probably row three people at a time to start. But for the majority of it, it will just be two of us rowing at the time. We’ll do it in two shifts, generally two hours on, two hours off.

‘Four out of five of us have already done the Atlantic - that’s 3000 miles [from the Canary Islands to Antigua]. We have a vague idea of what to expect but I think it’ll be quite different conditions.’

All the crew members working for air ambulance charities across the UK and the money raised will go towards each crew member’s air ambulance region (Cornwall Air Ambulance, Devon Air Ambulance, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance and Wales Air Ambulance).

Though Devon Air Ambulance is not currently campaigning for specific help, the money will help the charity to continue its work and help those across the country, not just in Devon.

She added: ‘If anybody driving through Devon has an accident, we’re not going to ask them where they’re from before we help them and lots of people will be heading down here from wherever they live over the summer.

‘My mum was a nurse so I’ve always been interested in the medical side of things but just combining the flying and bringing the aid to the patient really interested me.’

Alison has been a keen rower since she got involved in the sport at university and has already competed in the women’s Henley Royal Regatta. She has also rowed across the Atlantic in another Atlantic Campaign rowing challenge.

She said: ‘When I heard about the Atlantic race I was like, “Yeah, I want to do that. Definitely.” So I asked my rowing friends if anybody else wants to work across the Atlantic and they said “good luck.”

So I contacted the company that run it and I got put in touch with some some other like-minded people and put together a crew and then this crew have become friends.’

Devon Air Ambulance was established in 1992 and provides emergency medical help to those who need treatment especially quickly or are in places that may be unreachable for a land ambulance. The Devon Air Ambulance Trust is the charity that raises the funds to keep Devon’s two air ambulances flying. In March 2020 the charity introduced two rapid response critical care cars to the fleet of emergency vehicles.

To donate, visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Flyin-Fish1.