Volunteers behind Paralympian Naomi Riches' record breaking Thames Row challenge joined together for the official launch party last week.

Guests gathered at the Marlow Rowing Club to celebrate the launch of the Great Thames Row – which will see the Paralympic gold medallist attempt to become the fastest woman to row 165 miles along the river.

Current record holder Malcom Knight was among the party guests on Saturday, August 20 - who has provided Naomi with words of wisdom during her training after he broke the Thames Row record in 2005 in just over 43 hours.

The mammoth mission aims to raise awareness and money for Naomi’s patron charity IN- vision – a charity dedicated to researching eye condition Infantile Nystagmus, which she was diagnosed with at just 2 months old.

Naomi was also presented with a toy version of the charity’s trademark bumblebee – which will accompany her on the front of the boat throughout the row.

She said: “It was really good it was nice to get everyone together to get a lot of the volunteers together and put faces to names because we have had a lot of conversations over email.

“We just chatted through things and were asking questions making sure everyone knew what they were doing.”

In another bid to raise more money for the charity the team are attempting to get 165 people signed up to a bootcamp session at the Sir Steve Redgrave sports centre on Saturday, September 10.

Naomi added: “We knew (fundraising) was going to be a challenge but we did not realise it would be this complicated. But it is fantastic when you have people to take on a charity event and arrange it.

“Anyone who is doing anything we are very grateful.

“I feel good about it actually it is not like anything I have ever done before, but we are in the right place I feel good. It is just things I can’t control, I don’t know now my body is going to react.

“I am just so scared of letting people down and the amount of people who have put their time and effort in to this I want to make sure it is all perfect.”

And Naomi hopes the 165 mile Thames Row will raise £165,000 for the cause - £1,000 for each mile, and is encouraging companies to sponsor a leg of the journey.

To sponsor a mile and find out more about Naomi’s challenge visit http://www.thegreatthamesrow.org