In June 2006, Commando Joe - rowing as Team Hesco - and fifteen other teams will set out from the North American coastline in a 29ft rowing boat, aiming to cover the 3,118 nautical miles to Falmouth, UK, in as little time as possible. The journey is likely to take about 45-60 days and will require supreme effort from all those involved. It will be the second extreme challenge for the Commando Joe team - in April 2005 they competed in a 320-mile footrace to the North Pole, smashing the previous record by finishing in nine days, 17 hours and 39 minutes.

The 2006 Shepherds Ocean Fours Atlantic Rowing Race is the first four-man crossing of the Ocean from the United States to the UK mainland and follows a more northerly route than previous two-man races. Teams will encounter difficult currents, cold weather, high seas and even icebergs.

As well as the mental and physical challenge of competition, the team is dedicating its involvement to the memory of Gareth Rowlands, Pete's sixteen-year-old son. One day in May 2003, Pete and his wife Helen received a call from Gareth's boarding school, informing them of the devastating news that Gareth had suddenly died from meningitis. Just a couple of hours before he had been playing rugby with the school team, joking with his friends and talking about coming home for the half-term break.

Our original fundraising target was £20,000, which we have now comfortably exceeded.  Please help us to reach our revised target of £100,000.  With that, you'll be helping the Meningitis Trust to continue its excellent work in increasing awareness of the disease, funding further research and, most importantly, providing the all-important support to those like Pete, whose families' lives have been irrevocably changed because of the disease.

For more information about our team and the challenges we're facing, please visit our website at http://www.teamhesco.com. Here you can also sign up to our e-mail newsletter so you can keep track of our progress.

Thank you for your support and interest in our Challenge. Please donate generously.