Tom Hanks’ Cast Away spurs on Atlantic rower in £40k charity trip

A rower crossing the Atlantic for charity with a university friend has turned to Tom Hanks’ Cast Away for tips.

Olly Rathbone and George Attfield, who met at Nottingham Trent University playing rugby, have been training for the 3,000 mile journey for the last three years.

The pair are setting off on 12 December, from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, and heading across the pond to Antigua.

“I may have watched Cast Away about seven times so I can learn from Tom Hanks,” Olly, from Sevenoaks, in Kent, said.