TOMORROW, Newton Abbot dentist Azud Irshad and his boss Justin Marney set off on their 3,000-mile ocean rowing challenge to raise cash for the Rowcroft Hospice.

The pair will be spending around 60 days – including Christmas – in a 23ft two-man boat as they take part in one of the world’s toughest races.

Azud, aged 29, stepped up to the challenge in February after Justin’s original partner pulled out. He didn’t tell his mum he was doing the race until two months later, after he’d built his own confidence for the challenge.

In the summer Azud said: ‘She’ll be very happy when it’s finished but would also be very happy if I didn’t start it. I’m scared but I’m not going to stop doing it.’

Justin, aged 48, who takes part in iron man events when he is not pulling teeth, said he was looking forward to getting away from it all.

‘I’m really looking forward to the isolation,’ said Justin from his Pure Dental practice in Totnes High Street.

‘I’m looking forward to being off the grid. We do have satellite communication but it will be not having the outside world all around. It will be when we leave La Gomera in the Canaries and you can’t see the lights any more and you know you’re in it then. When the lights fade from the Canaries and the next stop is Antigua and you know you are pretty much on your own.’

The pair flew to the Canaries to join the £50,000 specially built boat they will be rowing the Atlantic in, which had been shipped out ahead of them.

After various checks they will begin their epic rowing challenge, taking part in the annual Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge - up against teams of rowers involving four and three man crews as well as solo rowers, all battling the sea from La Gomera in the Canaries to Antigua in the West Indies.

The pair have been taking part in sea trials over the last few months – testing out the boat which had been moored on the River Dart at Dartmouth.

In September they rowed their way from Dartmouth to Lyme Regis and back – spending three nights out at sea and testing their ability to deploy their parachute anchor and drogues – which could be vital during their Atlantic marathon.

They also deliberately took the boat out in rough seas in Start Bay to see just how the boat and they coped.

‘It was tough and we acquired a few sores but it was really encouraging and we learned a lot. We got the fear factor out of the way which is important,’ said Justin.

Ironically, Justin revealed, just before he was due to jet off he began suffering toothache and had to go through some root canal work.

‘I might have left it but I didn’t want to end up with problems miles out at sea,’ he said. ‘ We are taking along a pair of pliers just in case anything tooth related happens,’ he joked.

The pair have already raised some £7,000 towards their £10,000 target for Rowcroft and once they get underway they hope to surpass that target.

Family and friends have travelled out with them to see them off from La Gomera in their two-man boat stocked with freeze dried food, a supply of chocolate and a Christmas cake to celebrate Christmas Day.

They hope to complete the journey in some 60 days and make landfall at Antigua some time around mid February.