A FOUR-MAN team from Tunbridge Wells based private health insurer PPP Healthcare has claimed a new British indoor rowing record.

Commercial director Fergus Craig was joined by colleagues Clive Neale, Mike Tinsley and Peter Reed for the attempt.

Mr Craig said: "Using a rowing machine, we each had to complete a minimum 2,000 metres before handing over to a team mate.

"The clock ran constantly and with a marathon distance of 42,195 metres, each of us had to row five or six times."

Soon after customer services director Kate Lavender began timing, it was clear the team would beat its initial three hour target.

Smooth changeovers took the PPP rowers through 10,000 metres, just eight seconds outside the pace set by the erstwhile record holders, the Riptide Fitness Centre in Brighton.

At the halfway stage, fatigue set in but the team dug deep and going into the last 10,000 metres Craig, Neale and Tinsley began to row 2,500 metres each.

Their aim was to give Reed, who was suffering most, the chance of an extra rest. The tactic paid off, for with the record in sight it was Reed who finally clinched it.

The team finished the distance in two hours, 31 minutes and 29.5 seconds, beating Riptide's previous record of two hours, 32 minutes and 25 seconds.

A bucket collection held during the event raised £266 to help kick-start PPP Healthcare's support for Sport Relief - a charity fund-raising drive from Comic Relief and BBC Sport.