FOR most teenagers becoming the youngest person to row the Atlantic would be achievement enough.

But not for Rachel Flanders — the 18-year-old has now set her sights on rowing for Great Britain in the Olympics.

Rachel, from Heaton, was one of a four-woman crew — the Atlantic Angels — to take part in the Woodvale Challenge Atlantic Rowing Race, from December 2007 to February 2008.

The women spent 74 days in a 29-ft boat, Silver Cloud, as they rowed from La Gomera, in the Canary Islands, to Antigua, in the Caribbean.

When Rachel stepped on dry land in Antigua she became a world record breaker, for being the youngest rower of the Atlantic, aged just 17.

And when she returned home she could not stay out of water for long — and signed up to be a member of the Hollingworth Rowing Club, near Rochdale. Rachel now rows in a woman’s eight and trains four times a week.

She said: “My long term ambition is to get into the Great Britain team so I’m getting started now. I’m looking at possibly the 2016 games.

The Bolton School pupil's next challenge will be when her boat competes at the Henley Regatta in Oxfordshire this summer, competing against teams from across the country.