A ROWER on an epic 3,000 mile journey has sent his first message home from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Marlow’s Greg Symondson and his team The Atlantic4 have completed the first 1,300 miles of their gruelling Atlantic Row challenge.

Upon completion, the 22-year-old, with teammates, twins Hugo and Ross Turner, 23, and Adam Wolley, 22, will become the youngest to row the Atlantic, and are hoping to raise £150,000 for Spinal Research in the process.

On their group blog, the four Loughborough graduates revealed that their morale has been tested as they spent Christmas in far more demanding conditions than usual.

Spirits dipped after the team realised they would not meet their half-way mark by Christmas Day. Mr Symondson said: “We all slipped further down the mental ladder towards the ‘dangerously low’ end, we decided that something had to be done.”

The team decided to spend an hour on boat maintenance before jumping into the sea for a quick swim.

Mr Symondson said: “The immediate feeling was one of sheer terror, were we going to become separated from the boat? Was that shark still following us? Once these fears had quickly abated it was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives.”

“Now morale seems to be up approximately 10,000 per cent.”

Other teams have not been so lucky, however, with the number of boats competing dropping from 17 to 12 since the start of the race on December 4.

The arduous voyage - considered one of the toughest challenges on the planet, with more people having been into space than rowing the Atlantic - is expected to last between 50 and 80 days.

The team is hoping to finish in Barbados in February and on their Facebook page they have said they hope to reach the remaining 999 mile mark for New Years Eve adding: “Then it might be party time!”

The inspiration to support Spinal Research came from crew-member Hugo who crushed a vertebrae in his neck in a freak accident on his 17th birthday.

After a long and painful recovery Hugo was motivated to help others like him walk away after spinal injuries.

Keep up to date with their progress at www.theatlantic4.com or sponsor them at www.justgiving.com/theatlantic4