THE school friends of a young woman who died of a brain haemorrhage are hoping to beat a Guinness World Record and row around the UK in her memory.

Natalie Kate Moss tragically passed away after suffering a sudden brain haemorrhage at the age of 27.

In 2012, The Natalie Kate Moss Trust was set up to provide a lasting legacy for the former Barnard Castle School student, by supporting research into brain haemorrhage and providing support to students who have suffered a brain injury through their university lives.

Now friends, Andrew Mason, Kyle Booysens, Fred Moore and Wim Stevenson, are determined to raise £150,000 in her memory as they attempt to row more than 2,000 nautical miles around Britain in just 25 days.

The current record of 26 days, nine hours and nine minutes was set in 2013.

Mr Mason, 26, explained how the Rough & Ready Row team are hoping to begin their voyage from the Tower of London on June 1 and will have to complete about 80 miles a day beat the record, despite none of them having much experience of ocean rowing.

In their teams of two, they will be taking it in turns to row for two hours at a time and will not be allowed to come ashore at any point in their 9m-long boat.

“We are massively looking forward to it. It’s been two years in the making,” Mr Mason, of Lunedale, in Teesdale, said.

Mr Mason said the team had been preparing for the challenge with practice weekend rows and learning how to navigate themselves around the country.

He said: “We are all very different but we all have an appetite for life – it’s guts or stupidity, I’m not sure which.”

The North-East property developer added: “Natalie was a school friend of mine so we are doing it to raise awareness of the trust and raise as much money as we can because the trust is doing a good thing.”

The team have already raised more than £75,000 ahead of the challenge but are appealing for people to donate on their Just Giving page and for any sponsors to get in touch.

For more information visit roughreadyrow.co.uk or to donate visit justgiving.com/roughreadyrow/

You can also follow the team’s progress by searching for Rough & Ready - GB Ocean Row Challenge 2015 on Facebook or @RoughReadyRow on twitter.