Following his 1100 mile cycle ride to Rome last year, Canterbury retailer Shaun Barrett is to embark on another charity marathon.

This time, the managing director of Barretts Digital World, will join a team of six, plus cox, in a Thames cutter to row 26 miles across the English Channel.

"We have been training since April in the gym and on the open sea – all we need now is fair weather and minimal winds," Mr Barrett said.

The team plan to leave Dover on the weekend of July 12/13 and arrive in France some six hours later.

"We will be escorted by two safety boats and six kayakers who are also making the trip. Each participant is covering their own costs for the trip so all sponsorship raised will go directly to the charities," said Mr Barrett.

The venture is in aid of two registered charities:

Save Canterbury Cathedral and Odyssey, which supports cancer victims with imaginative outdoor programmes.

Website visitors can give to either or both of these charities by going to Mr Barrett's fundraising page online at: http://www.justgiving.com/shaunbarrett.