Kate Austin down at the WCS boat sheds in Whanganui before she departs the country on Friday for the big race. Photo/Bevan Conley
Rowing 200 miles in three days to raise $20,000 for HPV cancers is the challenge two Whanganui sisters are taking at the end of this month.
On July 29 former Wanganui Collegiate School students Harriet and Kate Austin will begin an ocean-boat row across the Mediterranean Sea from Ibiza to Barcelona.
In a crew of four, including former New Zealand rower Kate Rymer, the sisters will alternate the rowing in two-hour blocks over three or four days straight.
The team will be up against three competing crews and one safety yacht will follow.
Kate Austin said they plan to be the first all-girls crew to complete the event.
"No other all-girls crew have completed it but we did find out the other day that there is another all-girls crew we are up against. We have a pretty stacked crew, so feeling confident," she said.
Her sister Harriet is also a former New Zealand rower but has been living in London since 2015 completing her Master's in business and administration at Oxford University.
Kate Austin said after she completes the race she will be heading to London to study her Master's in health policy at the London School of Economics.
"The cause of this race is something I'm really interested in."
Charity organisation, NOMAN is an island, started the biennial event in 2013 to raise awareness about the highly contagious virus, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), that lives in the skin.
Making up 5 per cent of all cancer cases worldwide, HPV is known to cause cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancers.
But it is increasingly being acknowledged as a cause of specific cancers which affect many other body parts including anal, penile, and head and neck cancers.
Kate Austin said she was a mixture of emotions and she is just hoping she doesn't get seasick.
"It's all about the charity and it's going to be really special doing it with Harriet, we haven't been in a boat together since school in 2006."
The sisters said they are aiming to raise $10,000 each and all donations will go to HPV and Anal Foundation.