Mega Busy, Massive Excitement, Hard Work...

Hello everyone and sorry for the delay in our latest update, the last few weeks have been hectic to say the very least...
Firstly the apology is necessary due a technical problem with my Macbook which annoying took far longer to sort than originally anticipated. As a result of the uncharacteristic bad customer service displayed by the Apple store I have been incommunicado, I must say, however, that after a talk with the store manager and an apple Genius my irritation has been quelled. I now have a brand new Macbook with a full 1 year warranty and half a year more to transfer from my old cover, further to this the new model is far more advance and the processor of a much higher spec... At no charge to myself!... That is customer service!

So thank you very much Miss V. and Mr D. at the GA Apple store, you have been truly wonderful today.

Now down to Oar Raiser business, firstly I have had the most fortuitous conversation with a man that owns HeaterMeals - I contacted him with the objective of getting some kinda of product/services sponsorship for our trip - I had not realised at the time that he himself suffers from Parkinson's. He called to ask if we were genuine and if we would like to meet as he has a particular interest in us as we are doing this in aid of Parkinson's UK... The thing that is really amazing is that he actually sponsored the food supplies for the Ben Fogel and James Cracknell team a few years ago - further to which he wants to help us and has set up a meeting for the end of September in London the day after our first Woodvale seminar. Actually quite a moving and very motivational conversation was had between us and I am more proud to be involved in this everyday ...

We now have two official corporate sponsors, although we are still ten's of thousand's of pounds from our target it is at least looking more realistic and it has instilled in us a new thirst - knowing that people have faith in us drives us harder, better, faster and stronger each day (not to quote DaftPunk)...

So a heartfelt thank you goes out to Deritend Industries this week on behalf of the Oar Raisers.

Several new fundraisers to be announced in the coming weeks, our new Fundraising Manager (Abigail Smith) has removed some of the pressure from us by organising things and getting stuck into some of the admin side of the Oar Raisers glamourous world... It is a hard job for anyone especially someone who has never taken up a challenge on this scale, she has taken to it very well and seems to be making good headway so far - So a thank you from both of us to Abigail.

A new training program this week has been drawn up for the next three months, tomorrow is our first 10k Row on the Concept 2 machines... The program was devised off the cuff and completely out of the goodness of his heart by a PT Instructor (Ben Simons from DW Fitness) massive massive thanks and respect to him for all his help and support.

We will endeavour, now, to keep the updates more regular, especially seeing as I have this new Mac I have no excuse... So please keep reading and following us and if you do have any suggestions, advice or queries please just drop us a line by phone or email. Thank you all and good night.