A Marlow man has broken a world record by rowing one million metres in 6 days, 12 hours, 4 minutes and 34 seconds.

On Saturday (September 17), Graeme Gordon completed his “Million Metre Challenge” at Marlow Rowing Club to earn the individual world record for 1,000,000 metres, in the 60 to 69 age category.

The challenge aimed to raise money for Marlow RowAbililty, a fundraising initiative launched in 2019 seeking to raise £200,000 to make the hard-standing and boat storage areas safe and accessible.

Graeme, who has lived in Marlow for 27 years, was rowing from 6am until 11pm each day to complete the challenge beating the previous record.

Three weeks before the start of the record was broken by a German rower who completed the distance in of 6 days, 14 hours and 29 minutes, completing changing the planned schedule.

Graeme said: “On paper, it looked a lot simpler.

It was much harder than I expected and there were at least five occasions I can think of where I nearly said forget it, I just can’t go on.

“Particularly most mornings at 5am having gone to bed at around midnight. The alarm went off and I knew I had to do another 150,000 metres.

“Every time I finished a 10k the dial on the front of the machine went back to zero as if I hasn’t done anything.

“The mental side of things was much much harder.”

During the challenge, Graeme was visited by Sir Steve Redgrave, the most successful male rower in Olympic history.

The retired rower, who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000, stopped off at Marlow Rowing Club whilst on his way to the world championship to give him some words of advice.

Graeme admitted when he was struggling to continue he told reminded himself of a story about Redgrave.

He continued: “Someone told me when Steve Redgrave was ill he said 'just one more' so each time I said 'just one more' to myself and followed his example.

“What kept me going was the fact I didn’t know I was going to break to the record, but I thought if I can at least get the one million metres so I will have not let anyone down.”

He was also cheered on by former Olympian and a sports scientist, professor Greg Whyte OBE and Naomi Riches MBE, who won gold at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.

After beating the record, Graeme admitted the achievement didn’t sink in until the next morning.

He added: “When I did it it was more a case of relief.

"I knew I didn’t have to row anyone and there were a lot of people supporting me so it was a joyous moment but it didn’t sink it until the next day.

“I keep thinking to myself I don’t know how I did it. I had tremendous support from people just coming in.”

Graeme has currently raised almost £7000 and hopes to achieve his target of £10,000 which equates to a penny a metre.

To view and donate please visit: To donate visit: https://www.kindlink.com/fundraising/Marlow-Rowing-Club/1000000mm1