A MAN from Devon is taking on a challenge which will push his mind and body to the limit, all in the name of charity.  

Mark Grey from Broadwoodwidger has set himself the challenge to row for 24 hours to raise money for children’s charity Lilomi.  

Founded in 2018, by Mark’s sister, Lilomi is dedicated to uplifting the lives of the children in Sierra Leone. Lilomi is on a mission to raise funds to construct four classrooms on top of the existing science lab aiming to foster brighter futures in one of the world's most disadvantaged regions. 

To raise funds for the project, Mark is pushing himself to the limit as he takes to the rowing machine at 6am on June 20 and intends to remain rowing until the next day.  

As with most sporting challenges, the actual event is just the tip of the iceberg as the training schedule has dominated Mark’s life over the past few months. With food consumption increasing to keep up with the intense in training sessions, gone are the days where ‘it’s just a short session today’ means an hour or two, instead it means it’s less than eight hours. 

So far, Mark has carried out practice sessions overnight, having finished a day's work before hoping on the rower for 10 hours and finishing at 4am, to a practice ‘daytime’ 14 hours session just this week.  

In total, since the start of May, Mark has rowed more than 760,000 metres in order to prepare for the big day in which he aims to cover around 250,000 metres.  

While a marathon runner may burn between 2,500 – 3,000 calories, Mark is expecting to burn around 16,000 calories during the 24 hour period. 

Despite the physical and mental strain of such a gigantic challenge, Lilomi is a charity very close to Mark’s heart. His younger sister, her husband and children live in Sierra Leone and run an orphanage whose children benefit from the solutions that Lilomi strives to put in place. 

Donations can be made to mark’s fundraiser here: donorbox.org/support-lilomi/fundraiser/mark-grey-3