Ollie Phillips, former England Sevens captain and 2009 World Sevens Player of the Year, completed a 3,000-mile row across the Atlantic Ocean, known as the ‘World’s Toughest Row’, on Thursday. They finished the journey, which setts off from La Gomera and finishes in Antigua, in a time of 38 days and four hours.The team battled 20ft waves, extreme temperatures, sleep deprivation, and near-constant effort, all while living on a 28-foot boat. They rowed in two-hour shifts: two rowed at a time while the others attempted to get some sleep or eat one of their vacuum-sealed food rations.
Ollie, who completed an MBA at Queens’ College and earned his Blue for CURUFC in the 2017 Varsity Match, is completed this extraordinary challenge to raise funds for brilliant causes: the Matt Hampson Foundation, Cure Parkinson’s, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, The Clocktower Foundation, Shiplake C.E Primary School and Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. So far, the team have raised £350,000. Ollie has completed several challenges for charities: he even met his three teammates, Tom Clowes, Julian Evans and Stuart Kershaw while climbing Everest.
Completing extreme outdoor challenges, Ollie explained to Planet Rugby reporter James While in 2025, was a lifeline as he struggled to envision life after professional rugby following a slew of undiagnosable and painful leg injuries. He told While that, when his contract was terminated,
“I sat at home, grumpy and depressed. And as I did so, the phone rang and a jolly voice at the other end announced it was Sir Robin Knox-Johnson.
“Ollie,” Sir Robin said. “Fancy sailing a clipper around the world for eleven months?!
“Now I’d been vaguely involved in a bit of charitable work for The Alzheimer’s Society, but Sir Robin saw this trip as more of a trade mission than a charity fundraiser. It was called The GREAT Boat – it was all about promoting Britain as a great place to trade, to visit and to live. We would be racing, twelve matched boats, racing across the world’s most demanding oceans, but at the same time we were advocates for the British brand, a project to build on the legacy of London 2012, and to encourage trade links.[…] My job was to get the hosts engaged in the GB story, partly using my Sevens as a hook, partly using the boat as a hook.”
Fresh off the back of this latest endeavour, Ollie gave reporters the following comments on his voyage, which he summarised as a “fantastic experience”.
“They say ordinary people can do extraordinary things and this is an extraordinary event. Just a fabulous event, and absolutely relentless, from the moment we left until the moment we arrived. To see everyone here (friends and family) is overwhelming, just absolutely incredible.”
Alongside his outdoor challenges, Ollie now runs Optimist Performance, an organisation focused on empowering individuals and businesses. He said the team hopes to raise both awareness and funds for research and support.
CURUFC wishes to congratulate Ollie and his team for completing this gruelling challenge and the extraordinary fundraising effort he has achieved!
Photo source: World’s Toughest Row (Image: Penny Bird)