A member of an Aberystwyth student rowing team is looking forward to doing the 90-mile Celtic Challenge across the Irish Sea.

April Austin, a second-year university student, is one of the members of a student team that will take on the Celtic Challenge on Saturday, 4 May, just eight months after joining the university student rowing club in October last year.

April will join the other 11 members of the team as they look to complete the challenge rowing from Arklow in Ireland back to Aberystwyth, with April saying the challenge’s link to both Aberystwyth and Arklow makes it a unique event.

She said: “Participating in the Celtic Challenge was something that had been tossed around the club just before the Christmas holidays last year.

“There was a meeting held up on campus for everyone who was interested to come and hear two of the members from the town’s rowing club explain the basics of the challenge

“I signed up for it and have since been called crazy by my friends.”

Taking part in such a gruelling challenge means there has been a lot of training for team members.

April said: “I’m currently rowing in bow position so I’m at the back of the boat.

“To prepare for this, as a team there have been daily sessions down at the boathouse.

“These sessions have included exercises on the rowing machine, circuit training and short runs.

“This has been a huge incentive to eat a lot more healthily by including more veggies and swapping out carb-heavy foods for nicer alternatives, like swapping from white to brown rice.

“I’ve been trying to work on my stamina as well by switching up my gym routines to help build muscle.

“The last thing I want is to be too tired to row and let down the team.”

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