A crew aiming to row across the Atlantic in the fastest time ever are on course to beat the current world record - despite close competition from rival racers.

Team Hallin - a group of six rowers captained by 55-year-old Wimbledon resident David Hosking - is attempting to smash the record for crossing the ocean this month. They set off from the Canary Islands on January 6, and hope to arrive in Barbados less than a month after their journey began.

Martin Prest, a spokesman for the team, said: “The guys are absolutely wrecked - which isn’t surprising after two weeks of rowing. But they’re getting faster, and breaking the world record is on.”

The crew are in a neck and neck race with the Sarah G - a rival boat attempting to break the same record, which set off a few days after Team Hallin. In the first week and half of their bid the Sarah G team set a world record for the fastest 10 days of ocean rowing - but Mr Prest reported the rivals are now slowing down.

Team Hallin is attempting to raise £100,000 for soldiers’ charity Combat Stress through the challenge. The fundraisers are sleeping and rowing in short shifts, have leach ost more than a stone in weight and also needed to take anti-inflammatory drugs to cope with the physical effects of the challenge.Their boat Hallin Marine is a 12m long, 8m wide trimaran built in New York.

Mr Hosking, a former Navy commander from Wilton Crescent who served in the Falklands and currently works as a rowing coach at Charterhouse school, has already rowed across the ocean - but this time hopes to break the existing record of 33 days for completing the crossing.