I was TOO FIT FOR CANCER wasn't I?

After completing an epic row across the Atlantic, Felicity Ashley received a shock diagnosis that led to a new beginning

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When my brother-in-law David signed up to row from the Canaries to the Caribbean in 2019, I thought he was bonkers. 'Why would anyone want to do that?' I asked his wife, my younger sister Pippa.

The night he completed his challenge, in January 2020, I set my alarm for 2am to watch live as he pulled into Nelson's Dockyard in Antigua. It was spine-tinglingly exciting. I found myself thinking, 'If I feel like this, thousands of miles away, how awesome it must feel to be there - crossing that finishing line.'

Pippa, then 41, had flown out to Antigua to greet David - and, clearly even more inspired than me, called a week later to say, 'I've got a rowing boat! Do you want to do the same race with me?' The owner had offered the use of the ocean rowing boat that David's crew had used - a generous gesture, as they can cost well over £50,000.

I was 43, and recuperating well from a hip replacement at home in Oxfordshire. But I'd always been fit and sporty. 'OK,' I said, surprising myself. 'Why not?' I saw it as an opportunity to prove, like David, that ordinary people can do extraordinary things with the right mindset.

So, along with Pippa, her friend Jo, and Jo's friend Lebby - the team we called The Mothership - I embarked on 18 months of rigorous training to prepare for the 2021 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, aka The World's Toughest Row. We were four ordinary working mothers, with 11 children between us. With no professional crew, the four of us had to be thoroughly trained in everything from navigation and how to use the radio system to first aid at sea.

Life was busy, fitting training around my career in marketing and family commitments, but after working out six days a week - doing strength training and Pilates, along with hours on a rowing machine - I was the fittest I had ever been. I couldn't wait to set off from La Gomera on the 3,000-mile row.