JERSEY has another British champion, this time in indoor rowing.

On Saturday at the Club Carrefour, St Lawrence, Jed Chapman broke the over 50s indoor lightweight rowing marathon on a Concept 2 machine by 17 seconds.

In all he took 2 hr 44 min 19.5 sec to row the equivalent of 42,195m.

It was, he said afterwards, ‘horrible’, but not as bad as the previous two attempts he made, the first one which he gave up at 38 km, the second when he gave up at 35 km.

‘On both occasions I didn’t take any fluid on board,’ Chapman explained.

‘And the last time I tried, I lost two kilos .

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it was an awful experience.

This time I rigged up some means of drinking, although I still lost about a kilo in weight .

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but I’m better at distances than short races.

‘The previous British titleholder is George Meredith, and his son, Ally, works at the Carrefour.

‘So on the one hand he wanted me to set a new record while also wishing that his father wouldn’t lose the old one!’ Chapman, who also holds the lightweight and heavyweight half marathon records for his age, has been training at least an hour a day on the rowing machine and this time took it outside, to enjoy the fresh air as he pounded his way to the 2 hr 44 min 19.5 sec target.