FOUR North Yorkshire women have been bolstered by celebrity support as they come closer to completing their record-breaking bid to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic.

TV Chef James Martin, Formula 1’s David Coulthard, BBC Look North presenter Harry Gration and comedian David Baddiel have all tweeted their support for the Yorkshire Rows.

The four rowers, Janette Benaddi, from Burn, Helen Butters, from Cawood, Niki Doeg, from Hessay, and Frances Davies, from York, who are all in their 40s and 50s, are set to become the oldest all female crew to row across any ocean when they cross the line in Antigua at the culmination of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

The friends, who have battled through a hurricane, been attacked by flying fish and forced to row nearly naked after running out of clean clothes, are aiming to raise as much money as possible for Yorkshire Air Ambulance and cancer charity Maggies and have appealed for people to show their support by donating.

They chose the air ambulance after one of Janette’s relatives was airlifted to hospital following an accident.

Helen Butters said that despite a number of setbacks on the trip, they remained in good spirits.

"We are basically just rowing, eating and sleeping," she said. "It is really hard, and we are really missing our families, but we knew it was going to be tough.

“The scariest bit was during the hurricane when the rain was lashing down, there were really high winds and thunder and lightning. For three to four days we didn’t move and were confined to the cabins – with two people in each one you really can’t move in them.

“But there have also been some wonderful times, and we have had some great laughs. We were visited by a whale which stayed with us for two hours, and have rowed with a pod of 15 to 20 dolphins which was absolutely amazing.”

The air ambulance charity has just placed an order for two, brand new state-of-the-art replacements for its current ageing aircraft that will take to the skies over Yorkshire later this year and in spring 2017. The latest generation Airbus H145 helicopters will be night capable and give paramedics a much more modern medical fit-out to treat and transport often critically injured patients.

*To donate to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance text ROWS91 to 70070 or visit their JustGiving page https://www.justgiving.com/yorkshirerowsYAA/