FOUR Beer rowers will be taking part in the gruelling Thames marathon today (Sat), although their boat has been out of action for two weeks.

FOUR Beer rowers will be taking part in the gruelling Thames marathon tomorrow, although their boat has been out of action for two weeks.Brothers, Justin and Robert Adkin, their cousin, Martin Adkin and friend, Sam Phillips hope to complete the 22 mile race within three hours.They will face stiff competition as over 300 boats have entered and, Justin admits, that they haven't done as much training as they hoped.He said: "The four of us have only been out in the boat once because I've had to make major renovations to it which took a couple of weeks."We made sure it was river worthy and it didn't sink so we're all ready to go now."More than 30 different classes of boats will be taking part, and, as it is a traditional boating race, each must include a passenger and a coxswain.The team will be taking it in turns every 20 minutes to row while the other two can sit back, relax and enjoy some sightseeing on the Thames.Justin added: "It's something different for us to do as we are used to just rowing in Beer. It will be nice to see some of the sights of London including some football grounds."The foursome, who also play for local football team Beer Albion, have got some stick from fellow team mates as they will be missing a cup match tomorrow.Justin said: "It's a bit of a running joke within the team that nearly half the players will be missing from the match.