Emily Atkinson is in daily contact with her boyfriend even though at the moment it’s very much a long-distance relationship.

And while the old romantics from yesteryear may scoff when they learn that Emily chats to the man in her life via text, there is a very good reason why she is not curled up on a sofa with a box of chocolates every evening for one of those old-fashioned 90-minute phone calls.

That’s because as you read this, her chap, Jon Lakin, is halfway through a cross-Atlantic charity challenge which involves him and three mates rowing 3,000 miles from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean.

As challenges go, it is right up there with the roughest and the toughest… not for nothing is it known as the premier event in ocean rowing!

One-time Cleeve School pupil Jon, 30, and his three pals from Bristol set off on their crusade in mid-December and are due to arrive on the sun-kissed island of Antigua on Friday 2nd February.

They are part of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge – a race across the high seas that involves close on 30 boats.

Strictly speaking Jon’s team – Nuts Over The Atlantic – aren’t actually in the race because an unfortunate leak meant they couldn’t join everyone else on the start line on 14th December.

After two years of planning, however, they weren’t going to be deterred by such a small hole, so they craned the boat out of the water, mended the offending leak and set off on 17th December.

It’s the sort of can-do attitude that Cheltenham-born and bred Emily has come to expect from the team – the other three members are Mark Gibson, Steve Baker and Dan Baker – since she and Jon, an engineer who these days lives in Bristol, became an item one year ago.

By then the planning for what the organisers call quite simply ‘the world’s toughest row’ was well advanced of course, so when did Jon tell Emily how he would be spending Christmas 2017?

“On the first night we met,” laughed Emily.

Suitably impressed, Emily, a business analyst, has become one of the cheerleaders for the fab four and will be flying out to the Caribbean later this month to welcome them back onto dry land.

And while all four will be heroes in equal measure, Emily, of course, will have eyes only for Jon, whose parents Tim and Mandy still live in Bishop’s Cleeve.

“This is the first time he’s ever done anything like this,” she said. “He’s a very keen cyclist, he’s cycled Land’s End to John o’ Groats and London to Paris so I suppose he is a bit of an action man, but this is a new level.

“He was in the gym, putting on weight and building up his muscles before he went because they row for 12 hours a day.”

The team take it in turn to row – two at a time for two hours before they retire to one of two cabins at either end of the boat which also house their equipment.

“It’s very cosy,” chuckled ex-Balcarras School pupil Emily, 30.

So how is the rowing going?

“The first week was really tough,” said Emily, “but they’re getting into the swing of things now. Night-time is really difficult because it so dark but they’ve got an autohelm for steering so that obviously helps.

“Jon got knocked off his seat the other morning at 5am by a big wave. It broke the seat as well so he was trying to fix it in the dark. That wasn’t easy!

“The other thing they’ve struggled with is the heat, it’s been quite hot.”

Fortunately they’ve not come across any sharks yet – “They’ve seen some flying fish,” said Emily – but even if they do avoid some of the less pleasant species under water it will still be an amazing feat when they complete the challenge early next month.

And just as impressive is the fact that they are hoping to raise £100,000 for the Movember Foundation, a global charity committed to men living happier, healthier and longer lives.

And it’s for this reason that Emily contacted The Local Answer.

“They want to raise awareness about the Movember Foundation,” said Emily. “It’s not just about raising money, it’s getting men to talk about things like prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention.”

And through the efforts of people like Jon – and with the support of people like Emily – that message is certainly being heard more and more.

So has Jon got any further adventures planned once he’s completed this one?

“I’m not sure,” laughed Emily. “We’re going to take a week off in Antigua and then we’re going to South America for eight weeks.

“I’m sure he’ll want another adventure, maybe not as big as this one, maybe something like trekking across Madagascar.

“Maybe that’s something I could do as well!”

It sounds like Emily is a bit of an adventurer herself!

Anyone wishing to donate can visit www.nutsovertheatlantic.co.uk and click on ‘donate’.