Rowers taking part in a race to cross the Atlantic Ocean have had to drop out because they have run out of food.

They will still carry on and row to Antigua hopefully by the beginning of February but they will have to accept new food supplies from a support boat.

This disqualifies them from the international Atlantic Rowing Race.

Andy Ehrhart, aged 42, from West Wickham, got a team of colleagues who work together at the Metropolitan Police Specialist Training Centre in Gravesend to row across the Atlantic.

Mr Erhart, along with Mark Hefford, 45, from West Wickham, Nick Young, 38, from Caterham, and Justin Ellis, 32, from Croydon, set off in December.

Mr Ehrhart's wife Sheila, 44, said: "They lost food in the storms and there was a problem with the hatch of their boat.

"They have been surviving on half rations for a while but they had to accept that they were going to have to get some supplied to them or they would starve."

Mrs Ehrhart is going over to meet the men on their arrival in Antigua along with her chidlren and the wives and relatives of the other three men.

The mother-of-three said: "It is has been a real rollercoaster for them, I think they are very brave.

"All the messages they have recieved from people on the websites have kept them going in their darkest moments."

Their journey, which has been completed by fewer people than have climbed Everest, has been documented in a blog by the men on their website 4row4cf.co.uk The 4ROW4CF team is raising money for research into cystic fibrosis.