Ian puts his back into marathon bid

Some last-minute training for Ian Hall under the watchful eyes of his fellow firefighters

FIREFIGHTER Ian Hall is to tackle a marathon rowing challenge in aid of charity.

The 38-year-old will put his back into the task in Oldham’s Spindles shopping centre on Saturday — and the feat will take him past the million strokes he will have clocked up since the start of training.

The firefighter, who is based at Oldham fire station, hopes to raise more than £2,000 with his tough challenge, which will see him row 26 miles — the length of a marathon — on a rowing machine.

Ian said: “It started out as a daft idea. We have a rowing machine at the fire station we use for training, and I decided to set myself a hard target.

“I decided on a marathon and thought I might as well do it for charity.”

Ian’s challenge starts at 1pm on Saturday and he hopes to row over the finishing line by 4pm.

He will be supported by fellow firefighters, who will be with him in Spindles collecting donations and offering shoppers a turn on a second rowing machine so they get an idea of how Ian will be feeling.

He plans on doing 25 strokes every minute, and there will be a prize for the person with the closest estimate to the time it takes the super-rower to finish.

Ian will split the proceeds between the Christie Hospital charity and the Fire Service Benevolent Fund, which supports firefighters injured on duty.