River Humber Start for Atlantic Rowing Hopefuls

Interview and photo opportunity

Commando Joe Team Hesco, the East Yorkshire-based team intending to become the first four-man team to successfully row the North Atlantic Ocean in 2006, will launch their boat for the first time this weekend (1000hrs BST, Easter Sunday) beneath the Humber Bridge. The team will be joined by the Humber Lifeboat Crew and a Sea King helicopter from the RAF’s search and rescue flight, based at DST Leconfield.

Commando Joe Team Hesco was the first of the teams taking part in the 2006 Woodvale Ocean Fours Race to take delivery of their 29ft boat in early January. Since then, the crew has been hard at work fitting out the hull with waterproof hatches and other equipment, before painting and final finishing touches took place last week.

This Sunday’s launch will be the first time the four-man crew of serving and former British Army Commandos has taken to the water in the boat that they’ll row 2,800 miles next year. The Atlantic rowing race is the second in a series of three ‘extreme challenges’, including a race to the North Pole next month, that will raise more than £100,000 for the Meningitis Trust.

“We chose to support the Meningitis Trust after I lost my 16-year-old son Gareth to the disease in 2003,” says Pete Rowlands, the team’s captain, who lives in Long Riston. “What the Trust did for me, my wife Helen and daughter Sian after Gareth’s death was nothing short of amazing. Sadly, it’s something they’re good at, because meningitis continues to claim lives.

“Raising money by rowing the Atlantic enables me to give something back to the Trust, so that others can benefit as we did. And through increased awareness of the disease, and its symptoms, it might even prevent another family having to go through the same experience.”

Pete will be joined by long-term friend and Long Riston neighbour, Mark Waterson, Charlie Martell, from Gloucestershire, and Ben Fouracre, from Wiltshire. The crew will meet at 1000hrs BST on Easter Sunday, March 27 2005, under the Humber Bridge.

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Notes to editors:
Commando Joe Team Hesco
Commando Joe is undertaking three extreme challenges over the next three years: the 2005 Polar Challenge; the 2006 Atlantic Ocean Fours Rowing Race; and the 2007 Marathon des Sables, a gruelling 151-mile, five-day race across the Sahara Desert. The team aims to raise over £100,000 for the Meningitis Trust over that period.

Commando Joe’s Atlantic Team is sponsored by Hesco Bastion, the leading supplier of Force Protection to major military organisations around the world.

Meningitis Trust
The Meningitis Trust is fighting meningitis worldwide as an expert in its field. The charity supports families coping with bereavement or living with the effects of meningitis: developing education programmes for the public and health professionals and funding life-saving research into vaccines and treatments.

The Easter Sunday launch
The Commando Joe boat will be in the water by 1000hrs BST, March 27 2005. The presence of the Humber Lifeboat Crew and E Flight Sea King helicopter cannot be guaranteed, as both will have to respond to emergency calls should they arise during the course of the morning.

For further information on location and times, please call Adrian Bell, Commando Joe’s Campaign Manager, on 07976 866808. For more information about Commando Joe Team Hesco and the Meningitis Trust, please visit the team’s website at www.commando-joe.co.uk