On Saturday 4th of June 2011, 10 members of the Dublin Airport Police/ Fire Service will attempt to row across the Irish Sea in aid the D.A.A. charity of the year the 3t’s (Turn The Tide of Suicide). The crossing from Howth to Holyhead is a distance of 100 kilometres and will take approximately 12 hours.

The Airport Police/Fire Service have set up their own club (The A.P.F.S. Rowing Club) and have bought a 25ft Celtic longboat which is a fibreglass coxed four coastal rowing boat.

The training for this challenge started in November 2010 and the team row every week out of Malahide Marina where the marina management have very kindly offered a mooring for the boat for the duration of the training. The crew itself is gaining in experience all the time and are determined that nothing will stop them from completing their goals having last year climbed the 18 highest mountains in Ireland in under 62 hours (55,400ft) something never attempted before, they are a very fit, strong and determined group.

There will be collection days in Grafton St. on the Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th of May and at Dublin Airport on the Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th of May. The rowing club hope to raise over €20,000 for the 3t’s which is a very worthy cause.

The Irish Navy have agreed to escort the boat out of Irish waters on Saturday 4th of June and the Irish Coast Guard based at Dublin Airport will provide aerial photography of the event, there will also be a support boat which will carry food, water and supplies and a safety boat which will be used for crew transfer.TV3 have invited the rowing team onto Ireland AM in May to talk about the challenge before we go and again afterwards in June to discuss how everything went which will also be a great opportunity to thank our sponsors who are the D.A.A., MGM Boats, Malahide Marina and Stena Line.

The Rowing Club intend to embark on a charity challenge every year for the D.A.A. staff charity of the year and are already planning to enter a team into The Celtic Challenge in 2012 which is the longest rowing race in the world. This years challenge will start from Howth Harbour at 0600hrs on Saturday 4th June and hopefully finish at Holyhead Harbour before 1800hrs