A NORTH Craven woman is in a race to raise the £45,000 she needs to take part in a solo row across the Atlantic and become the oldest woman ever to complete the 3,000 mile feat.

59-year- old Vivienne Barclay, who lives in Bentham, and is originally from Settle, has already raised £75,000 of the £120,000 she needs to take part in the annual World's Toughest Row that starts in La Gomera in The Canaries and finishes in English Harbour in Antigua.

But, with the row due to start in three months time, on December 12, Viv is in a race to raise £45,000 more, but, if she cannot raise it, she will postpone taking part until 2027 when she will be 62 years old - so determined is she to fly the flag for older women and complete the challenge.

Up to 50 teams will be taking part in the race, with Viv just one of six solo rowers.

She expects it will take 60 to 70 days to cross the Atlantic; she will not leave the boat, unless its an emergency, and after the start, is unlikely to see any of her fellow competitors.

The boat is fitted with an anti-collision system, which goes off if another vessel is within ten miles of her - there will be large cargo boats crossing, and she will be in daily touch with the race organiser's safety team.

Her biggest concern is however a marlin strike - where the large fish in the hunt for smaller fish might damage her boat to get at fish that can cling to the bottom of boats.

Food will be dehydrated - she will be taking her bodyweight, 70kgs of it with her on the boat, and a desalination unit, so she can safely drink the sea water.

She expects to row for between 12 to 16 hours every day, at around 45 minutes at a session, followed by 15 minute rest breaks.

And, her toilet for the journey will be a bucket.

But she is not deterred and says she has been inspired by other women her whole life, from her paternal grandmother, who was a crane driver during the Second World War, to the gymnast Nadia Comaneci, Floella Benjamin, Angela Rippon and the cosmonaut, Helen Sharman.

"In 2016, I was inspired by four middle-aged women from York, the Yorkshire Rows, who became the oldest female team to row 3000 miles across the Atlantic unassisted in the World’s Toughest Row. My thought at the time was, ‘If they can do that, so can I – I know I can do that.’ "I have always been a bit of an adventurer and showed very early signs when I surprised my grandmother by turning up on her doorstep one day. I’d walked there by myself about a mile or so from where I lived. I was three years old."

Viv, who runs a business making beeswax wraps, has been preparing for the row for more than a year, has completed mandatory courses in navigation, sea-survival and first aid, and has put in many, many hours on her rowing machine in front of the television at at the gym.

Viv, who will be raising money for the British Menopause Society and the Menopause Cafe, also hopes to gain her place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

She says: "Being the first woman to row an ocean unassisted at 59 to inspire menopausal women to go beyond what they believe to be possible for them makes sense to me."

To find out more about Viv's row and to support her, go to: https://www.mumentous.com/ Or: https://www.gofundme.com/f/kk2vt-a-mumentous-solo-atlantic-row