A POPULAR Thornbury shop owner and expert canoeist was overjoyed with the amount raised from his and his brother-in-law’s marathon effort on the River Wye.

Richard Edwards and James Garrett, both 36, attempted to row 103 miles on Friday, June 21 within 18 hours for the National Brain Appeal, which currently supports one of their relatives suffering from a rare and fast deteriorating form of dementia.

Despite falling slightly short of the target, the daring duo have raised almost double the amount they expected to, with a grand total of £1,900 for their efforts.

The pair were forced to set off in Richard's 19-foot Canadian canoe from Hay-on-Wye an hour-and-a-half later than their 3am-planned departure because of the lack of light and they struggled in lower than expected water levels.

Despite that, the men rowed almost non-stop for the 18 hours and were 12 miles short of their target before losing the light.

"We are really, really pleased with how it has gone," said Richard, who is the owner of Surroundings on St Mary’s Street.

"We couldn’t have peddled any faster or any longer.

"I would just like to thank all the people of Thornbury and my customers who yet again stumped up so much."

Richard’s main concern had been the event would happen on the same day as his second son’s birth.

But Huckleberry decided to wait it out a bit longer and was born several days later, with his brother Gus, three, providing his father with support on the day.

The feat was a completely new test for James who two months ago had never even sat in a canoe but it was another notch on Richard’s belt who had embarked on a solo five-day trek along the River Severn in 2011.

"He did really well. James is the right kind of person to do this with," said Richard.

"We were a little bit sore afterwards, the blisters are just starting to come through, but I was far more tired from the baby being born."

To give Richard your support visit www.justgiving.com/richardandjamescanoe