More than £2,500 has been raised for a new storage facility for Marlow Rowing Club after celebrity chef Tom Kerridge went head-to-head with another chef, Atul Kochhar, in a rowing race.

Visitors to the Pub in the Park festival this year enjoyed watching the two chefs row from Marlow Bridge to the finish line at the end of Higginson Park, with the support of an all-star Michelin squad, ahead of the festival.

The chefs, who both run eateries in the town, raised £2,557.50 for Marlow RowAbility – Marlow Rowing Club’s charity project which aims to raise £250,000 for a new facility for the storage of boats and access to the river for the club’s para and adaptive rowing squads to be built on the existing site.

Mr Kochhar’s team included Paralympic gold medallist Naomi Riches, who Coxed fellow Michelin-starred chefs Claude Bosi and Phil Carmichael, against Mr Kerridge’s team with Marlow’s own Paralympian in training, Kingsley Ijomah, who coxed well, guiding Angela Hartnett and Josh Eggleton into the race.

In the end, Mr Kochhar’s team took the top spot.

The club aims to complete all the work within two years and, to boost the start of fundraising, it has already been left a legacy of £38,000 by former chairman John Yeatman.

It hopes to raise the remainder of the money through donations, grants and sale of debentures on single sculling racks.

Ms Riches said: “The energy and the enthusiasm of the chefs was contagious and the fact that they were willing to get out of their comfort zones and into a boat was very entertaining.

“They did all of this to raise the profile of Marlow RowAbility, which was fantastic and is a perfect example of Marlow’s community spirit .

“And oh my goodness, it was a lot of fun.”