{"id":2238,"date":"2013-06-07T16:46:54","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T16:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/p=?2238"},"modified":"2013-06-07T16:46:54","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T16:46:54","slug":"former-soldier-to-row-english-channel-for-help-for-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/former-soldier-to-row-english-channel-for-help-for-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Former soldier to row English Channel for Help for Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two brothers are due to team up to row across the English Channel in order to raise as much money as possible for military charity Help for Heroes.<\/p>\n<p>Former soldier Nick Townsend, 30, from Portsmouth, was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in 2007 while serving in Afghanistan, but he has decided he has what it takes to complete the challenge with brother Jason Rice, 44.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Townsend said: &quot;Jason works in the sailing industry, so he understands the nature of the tides, navigation while at sea and the busy shipping lanes, and I have the expertise on endurance [and] nutrition.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>The pair are aiming to row from Weymouth on England's south coast to St Helier in a non-stop challenge that is likely to last 36 hours, the Littlehampton Gazette noted.<\/p>\n<p>It will complete a remarkable turnaround for Mr Townsend, who had just minutes to live when he was hit by the grenade six years ago.<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ADNFCR-2867-ID-801596415-ADNFCR\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.directnews.co.uk\/feedtrack\/justcopyright.gif?feedid=2867&amp;itemid=801596415\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A charitable challenge will see two brothers row the Channel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former soldier to row English Channel for Help for Heroes - Forces Penpals GB<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/former-soldier-to-row-english-channel-for-help-for-heroes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former soldier to row English Channel for Help for Heroes - Forces Penpals GB\" \/>\n<meta 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