STAFF at Scarborough-based AlphaGraphics printing franchise will be glued to their televisions later this month to watch their company yacht team's attempt to sail across the Atlantic and turn a professional boxer into a professional ocean racer.

Professional flyweight boxer Cathy "The Bitch" Brown joins the elite Pindar AlphaGraphics racing team on the gruelling crossing as part of TV's latest "fish-out-of-water" programme The Challenge, on BBC 2 at 9pm on Sunday, November 21.

AlphaGraphics' parent company, Pindar, sponsors its namesake yacht, and the Pindar Ocean Racing Team, skippered by 30-year-old Emma Richards MBE - the first British woman and youngest-ever competitor to complete the solo round the world yacht race, Around Alone.

The programme will follow the team's progress as it sets sail from Newport, Rhode Island, and travels down to Ambrose Lighthouse, US, to start the crossing. It will then follow the transatlantic course from the lighthouse to Lizard Point in the UK, charting the progress of Cathy - coping in some of the toughest conditions that ocean racing can throw at her, the lack of privacy and sleep deprivation.

The documentary will also focus on Durham-based Cathy's physical and mental journey as she prepares for the challenge of a lifetime, guided and mentored by Emma, the Pindar AlphaGraphics skipper.

Updated: 11:16 Wednesday, November 10, 2004