A TEAM of rowers comprised of injured forces personnel will be taking part in the World Pilot Gig Championships, which start on the Isles of Scilly today (Friday).

The newly-formed Help for Heroes Gig Rowing team has been training together for just 14 weeks, after the charity's Plymouth Recovery Centre decided to enter a team at the international competition. The crew is made up of seven servicemen, each of whom have suffered injury or illness in the course of their military duty.

Between them, the men have two false limbs and other ailments including severe rheumatoid arthritis, spinal calcification and post-traumatic stress disorder – but uniting them is a determination to overcome the hurdles and hold their own in the contest.

'What might have seemed an almost impossible task to others just four months ahead of a major competition did not put off the Help for Heroes team,' said a spokesperson.

The crew has been training under the guidance of coaches from the Caradon Gig Club in Saltash and the Royal Marines Tamar Gig Club at Devonport, while land-based training has taken place in the Plymouth Recovery Centre's gym.

Cox for the team will be Sam Austin of the Caradon Gig Club, who has volunteered her time to assist the crew.

Local support has also come from food producer Ginsters, which has given funding for team kit and resources and by providing a connection with the Caradon club, where managing director Mark Duddridge is a member.

He said: 'We were delighted to introduce the Naval Service Recovery Centre in Plymouth to the sport of gig rowing last year and have been really impressed by the standard of rowing the team has achieved in what has only been a very short space of time.'

The crew has only ever entered one competitive gig rowing race, the six-mile-long Three Rivers Race in Saltash, which they entered with the simple aim of completing the course. Now the team is competing alongside the world's best.