FOUR months after ‘dying’ on a riverbank, veteran rower Vince Kerrigan raced to a gold medal at a regatta.

Last November, Mr Kerrigan, of Wallingford rowing Club, suffered a heart attack while competing in the veterans Head of the River race on the River Thames in London.

As fellow crew members frantically battled to save his life after hauling him out of the boat on to a muddy riverbank, his heart actually stopped.

“I was officially dead,” said the 63-year-old oarsman. “But I owe my life to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), who came to the rescue. Thanks to their defibrillator, they got my heart working again.”

His fellow crew members were Andy Millar, Anthony Cooke-Yarborough and Pieter van Vrede.

Mr Millar, who was trained as a doctor, soon noticed the warning signs when his colleague complained of heartburn.

He said: “I grabbed his wrist and was horrified to feel a rapidly thready pulse and a cold and clammy feel to his skin.”

A passer-by made an alarm call and before help arrived, they did what they could to keep him alive with cardiac massage.

“Of course, I couldn't remember any of this,” said Mr Kerrigan, who lives in Reading Road, Wallingford. “But I dread to think who was giving me the kiss of life!

“The next thing I remember is being hauled into the ambulance. I felt fine and cracked a joke about wanting something to eat.”

Because his heart was basically sound — the problem was related to an artery — he was in hospital for only 48 hours.

He recalled: “I was off work for a month because I was not allowed to drive, and I was back training on the water within two months.”

The story had a happy ending as the four members of the crew teamed up again at the Abingdon Spring Head regatta and won a gold medal in their veteran class.

Mr Kerrigan’s only concession to the illness was to wear a heart rate monitor, which meant rowing with spectacles on, so he could note the readings.

“We still get on very well, despite my attention-seeking exploits — thanks to the RNLI,” he said.