THEY are the Hamble youngsters who are set to have a "very unusual" Easter weekend.

Mike Preston and his friend Tom Holland are to take up a major challenge in a bid to help save more lives.

The 15-year-old will be taking part in a 125 mile kayak race to raise money for The British Heart Foundation and Hamble Sea Scouts.

This comes after Mike lost his father 10 years ago due to an undiagnosed heart disease and said he wants to help stop this from happening to other people.

Now from March 30 to April 1, Mike and Tom will be enduring 125 miles and camping in tents, cooking their own food.

The two Hamble School students, who are also members of the Hamble Sea Scouts, said to be very excited about the challenge.

And Tom added: "We have never pushed ourselves to this extent before and we are determined to complete the race. We have to endure the weather, who knows what the Bank Holiday weather will bring, pain as it is going to be tough, camping and early morning starts, particularly a 3am wake up call to start the last day.”

Tom and Mike are training every other night after school both on the water and on the indoor kayak machine at Hamble Sea Scouts.

"We must complete at least 25 miles of training each week before the race," they said.

And added: "This is not just a challenge for us, it is a race and we would really like to win the Scout Affiliated Trophy. Two Sea Scout leaders completed the race in 2006 and we want to follow in their footsteps and be the next Hamble Sea Scouts to complete the race -and perhaps even beat their time!Hamble Sea scouts is run solely by volunteers who give up their time for us to experience a wide range of activities, we would like to raise money for them so that other young people can have opportunities like we have been lucky enough to have."

The youngsters have already raised £1,000 and have launched a fundraising campaign.

To support them visit mydonate.bt.com/teams/therealboatrace#DW