I have lived all my life in Manchester, going to the Manchester Grammar School and now working as a lawyer with Addleshaw Goddard in Manchester.

I went to Oxford University (Saint Hugh's College) and fell in love with rowing. We rowed single sex eights and after 2 years I was boat club Captain, rowing every day and coaching most days. My sister has now caught the same bug and is captain of Ustinov Boat Club at Durham University.

My firm now sponsors Trinity College Oxford's boat club after I set up the sponsorship a few years ago. It's a great way for me to give something back to the sport that I loved so much.

I had a mini adventure between university and work when I bought a bicycle for Ј25, did it up, strapped a tent to the handlebars and with a mate of mine cycled about 2,500 miles from Saint Malo to Gibraltar, going the full width of the Pyrenees from West to East on the way and camping every night. I thought that might silence my need for adventure but it simply made it worse.

I've wanted to row the Atlantic since my dad gave me a copy of John Fairfax's book when I was about 10 years old and I`ve never looked back (or thought about much else).

I went out to watch the start of the Woodvale 2005 race and agreed to buy Gurkha Spirit. She`s now in a warehouse in Manchester as yellow as a canary and I`m getting ready to train in her on Windermere in the spring.

Training  on Lake Windermere in Gurkha Spirit