Thank you to everyone who took part in the Royals Big Row – the rowers, supporters and donators.

With a fantastic collective effort we surpassed our original target of a million metres.

The day started at 6.30 am when we set up on the Groves, with the senior men and woman’s squads already rowing by the time dawn broke. By 10am Chester the Cat from Dee FM radio joined us for some high jinx and it wasn’t long before we’d reached 300,000 metres.

The weather was on our side and throughout the day members of all squads popped by to row, including the master’s women and juniors squad who worked in teams to do relays.

The sunshine ensured we had plenty of passers-by, many of whom took the time to recognise our efforts and some also kindly made donations.

By early afternoon things were looking good and we were confident we’d reach the target ahead of schedule. Having reached a million metres by 5.30pm we called time, letting anyone still on an ergo finish when they chose to. The final total rowed was an impressive 1,078,454 metres.

Everyone who took part was entered into a prize draw. The lucky winners were Carter Foster who won a goody bag from Square Blades and Tom Rushton who won a box of Hotel Chocolat chocolates.

Alex Bain from the senior men’s squad rowed the furthest - some 69,314 metres - and received a pair of sunglasses.