AN OFFICE worker who battled storms to earn a place in the record books has been named one of the most fearless women in Britain.

Bev Ashton, 29, from Wantage, joined three other women to compete in the Virgin GB Row, which saw her take on extreme weather conditions in a gruelling rowing race around Britain.

The IT worker and her team-mates crossed the finish line at London’s Tower Bridge on July 23, becoming the first women to row non-stop around the coast of Britain.

Now the crew, the SeaGals, have been shortlisted in Cosmopolitan magazine’s Ultimate Fearless Women of the Year Awards.

Mrs Ashton only took on the challenge, which saw her crew beat a team of men, after another rower dropped out.

She said: “I used to row fairly seriously at university but I haven’t done anything for about five years.

“For me it was a very last-minute thing. I only had two weeks to train and prepare.

“But I thought to myself ‘if you can do this so ill-prepared, then it will be a massive achievement’.”

The race was originally expected to take the crews a month to complete.

But the atrocious weather conditions they faced, including strong winds and fierce storms, meant that the journey took three weeks longer than hoped.

As well as sleeping each night in the boat, which because of the Guinness World Record guidelines they were not allowed to leave at any point, the women were forced to ration their supplies of food and water.

The gruelling effort has so far raised more than £4,000 for Help for Heroes, a charity which cares for military personnel wounded in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mrs Ashton added: “It was hard.

“If you think and prepare to be away from home for a month and suddenly it’s two, that can be emotional and there were a few tears on the boat.

“We were battling against 30ft waves and winds, which would spin us in the wrong direction.

“There were times when I wondered what I was doing but then there was a stubborn streak, which I think most women have, which made me say I’m not giving up.

“I wanted to do something exceptional and it soon began to feel very ordinary.

“Now we all hope that we can inspire others not to think that they can’t do something exceptional.”

The winners of the awards will be named at a ceremony on Tuesday, November 2, at the Banqueting House, in Whitehall, London.