AN INTREPID charity fundraiser is planning an epic 1,600-mile journey from Poland to England – in a rowing boat.

Kris Wieckiewicz, a volunteer swimming instructor in Darlington, will embark on the voyage with his lifelong friend, Poitr Furwan, in August.

The former lifeguards hope to raise more than £10,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support and a Polish charity called Akogo, which helps coma victims. Eaglescliffe company Icon Plastics has already pledged £1,000.

Kris, 44, who coaches at Darlington Swimming Club, based at Longfield School, said he had been inspired “to do something extraordinary” after his father, Jerry, died of leukaemia.

The Northern Echo: OARSOME: Kris Wieckiewicz, right, and Piotr Furman train for their epic voyage

OARSOME: Kris Wieckiewicz, right, and Piotr Furman train for their epic voyage

The father-of-three, who lives in Cockerton, moved to Darlington from Poland 11 years ago and works as an engineer for Nifco.

Piotr, 55, who lives in Warsaw, is a former champion swimmer who competed in the 1980 Moscow Olympics and is a four-time winner of the World Lifeguard Championships.

He said: “When Kris asked me to join him, how could I say no? It is a chance to do something different and help people.”

The pair, who met when they worked as lifeguards in Poland 25 years ago, have started strenuous daily training routines on rowing machines to be ready for their adventure which is expected to take at least 25 days to complete.

They will set off from the River Odra, in Kris’s home town of Kedzierzyn-Kozle, near Krakow, on August 18. They will pass Berlin and Hamburg before reaching the North Sea. Their journey will then take them past Holland, Belgium and France before they enter the English Channel and then the Thames.

Their boat is 5.6 metres long and weighs 650 kilos. It will also carry food and equipment weighing 1.2 tons. The vessel will be sold for charity when it reaches London.

“We have spent our lives saving people and this is an extension of that,” said Kris. “We know there will be dangers but we are not teenagers and we have lots of experience.”

Kris is already a hero having been awarded a bravery medal by the Polish president 20 years ago after saving the lives of three children who had fallen into a harbour.