HOW do you describe a nine-week adventure rowing the Atlantic which had its lows — pain and death defying storms — in 20 minutes?

The skipper of the trans-Atlantic challenge four-man team, which raised more than £250,000 for Bolton Lads and Girls Club, had his audience at the Bolton Professionals Curry Club on the edge of their chairs as he described the conditions during the trip earlier this year.

Mark Brocklehurst, MD of the Sharples Group and the leader of the rowers, told how the trip was two- and-a-half-years to get to the starting line and nine weeks to get to the finishing line.

He talked of the desperation and horrendous pain the team suffered, but also the elation as they reached the end in their battered 29ft boat.

Along the way they dealt with a five- day storm, lack of gas for the stove and how relationships in the boat were strained to the limit.