Lymington Rowing Club captain Hugo Mills to row from Southsea to Lymington for Alzheimer’s Society

LYMINGTON Rowing Club captain Hugo Mills is hoping to raise more than £1,000 for the Alzheimer’s Society by embarking on an epic 89-mile challenge from Portsmouth.

Hugo, who is managing director of Bluebird Care New Forest and Portsmouth, will embark on the rowing journey as part of a collective company-wide initiative to raise £50,000 for the charity this year.

Today (Friday) Hugo is aiming to depart from Southsea and row 49 nautical miles (89 miles) back to Lymington Rowing Club’s headquarters at Lymington Shores.

As a young man, Hugo rowed for the well-known Leander Club and the National GB team, and won several Royal Henley Regatta races.

But after a decade of rowing he gave up, before later rekindling his love of sport when he joined the club at Lymington seven years ago.

Hugo’s wife Bernadette explained: “Hugo’s passion is rowing, and he has mentored many local youngsters to row. He often races with a four or eight in the Hampshire Dorset championships.”

As long as weather conditions are favourable, it is anticipated the row will take between six and 12 hours.

Bernadette added: ”The row will be challenging as he will have to cross two big shipping harbours: Portsmouth and Southampton. We will have a support boat to follow him. We will need to have the right weather conditions for it, so no rainy conditions, otherwise he will have to abort the effort and await another 14 days for the right tides to retry.”

To support Hugo’s challenge for the Alzheimer’s Society visit

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Hugorowingchallenge