Shiplake adventurer prepares for Atlantic row
Former England rugby star Ollie Phillips will carry out the charity adventure over Christmas
This Christmas, four adventurers will swap festive comforts for 3,000 nautical miles of open ocean as they take on The World’s Toughest Row – a gruelling Atlantic crossing to raise funds for charities tackling Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and other life-changing conditions.
The World’s Toughest Row begins on 12 December 2025 in La Gomera in the Canary Islands and ends in Antigua in the West Indies, a journey expected to take between 35 and 45 days over the Christmas and New Year period. Along the way, crews face towering waves up to 20 feet high, temperatures ranging from 10°C at night to over 30°C with humidity, and the relentless grind of burning 6,000 calories a day, with each rower likely losing between 12-20kg before reaching land.
Team Seas Life consists of former England Rugby 7s captain and Guinness World Record holder Ollie Phillips, who is based at Shiplake near Reading, joined by seasoned adventurers Julian Evans, Tom Clowes, and Stu Kershaw - all Everest summiteers. Together, they’ll set off on 12 December, spending Christmas and New Year at sea.
The team is fundraising for several charities close to their hearts. For Ollie, that includes My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, honouring the late rugby legend Doddie Weir, who passed away in 2022 following his MND diagnosis.
Other beneficiaries include Cure Parkinson’s, The Clocktower Foundation, Shiplake Primary School, and The Matt Hampson Foundation, which supports young people seriously injured through sport, founded by former Leicester Tigers prop Matt Hampson, who was left paralysed from the neck down after a scrum collapsed.
Toughest
Retired professional rugby player Ollie Phillips, who now runs Optimist Performance, an organisation dedicated to empowering individuals and businesses, said:
“This is going to be a superb challenge; I think probably the toughest thing that any of us have ever taken on before. But if we contrast that to some of the people that are impacted by the conditions that we're raising awareness and money for, then it pales into an insignificance. Especially when you look at the mental fortitude of people like Matt Hampson, along with Lewis Moody, Ed Slater, Rob Burrows and Doddie Weir who have suffered, or continue to suffer, at the hands of Motor Neurone Disease.
“I am excited yet nervous about the whole experience, but then also grateful that I'm able to utilise my audience and community to do something extraordinary and to raise a lot of money for some incredible causes. That hopefully makes a massive impact when we get home.”
Ollie is also hoping to inspire children from his local school Shiplake Primary and he's already taken the team's rowing boat into the school and answered questions from the pupils.
"I got them to show me where the route was, asked them to tell me the distance, the ocean we were going to cross, the deepest point, as always the biggest topic of conversation was where I was going to go to the toilet!"
You can find out more about Team Seas Life here