AN AIR traffic controller at RAF Brize Norton is flying high after rowing one million metres in 31 days for charity.

Sergeant Jack Elkin completed his challenge on Tuesday, having rowed more than 621 miles in just one month to raise money for the RAF Benevolent Fund. That’s the equivalent of rowing from Oxford to Dumfries and back, with enough left to make it home to the West Oxfordshire airbase.

Sgt Elkin completed the distance at a finale event on the airbase, cheered on by friends and family.

The idea for the rowing fundraiser came in January, and 26-year-old Sgt Elkin, 26, trained for six weeks before starting his marathon on March 1.

He said: “The first week was a massive shock but once I got to the 10-day mark I got into a routine.

“It was tough – getting up at 6am and rowing for one-and-a-half hours, doing as many miles as I could in 20 minutes on my lunch break, then getting home and doing one or two hours more.”

Sgt Elkin, originally from Brighton, completed his training at RAF Shawbury before coming to Brize Norton in July 2013.

He decided to raise money for the Benevolent Fund – the RAF’s leading welfare charity – after seeing the help it gave to a colleague dealing with terminal cancer.

Sgt Elkin said: “The RAF Benevolent Fund did all it could to make her comfortable at home for her final few months. The support they provided made such a difference to her and it was an easy decision to fundraise for them.”

Mike Neville, director of strategy and fundraising at the charity, said: “Jack took on an incredible effort for the RAF Benevolent Fund and we are so appreciative of his assistance. “We support more than 60,000 members of the RAF family and we simply couldn’t do it without the fundraising work of people like Jack.”

Sgt Elkin also pledged to give some of the money to the charity his mum runs with two friends – the Foundation for Abandoned and Mistreated Animals.

In the wake of his efforts, Sgt Elkin estimates he has raised about £1,500 for the two charities, but said it wasn’t easy going rowing the equivalent of the Thames’ entire length three times over.

He said: “I’ve been rowing 32,251 metres per day, which works out to roughly 20 miles.

“I even took the rowing machine to the runway for a session – having a row in the shadow of departing C-17 is pretty amazing.

“The calluses on my hands are phenomenal. It definitely took its toll. A lot of people are asking me if I will join a rowing team.

“I can honestly say I don’t ever want to sit on a rowing machine again.”

You can still donate to Sgt Elkin’s causes at megametrerow.com