Four friends complete 3,000-mile Atlantic row for Horsham children’s charity to raise funds for premature birth research

Four military veterans have completed a 3,000-mile Atlantic row for children’s charity based in Horsham.
By Frankie Elliott
Published 24th Jan 2022, 15:35 BST
Updated 24th Jan 2022, 15:36 BST
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Team Elijah’s Star – made up of Phil, Mac, Dean and Jason – completed the journey across the Atlantic Ocean to raise awareness of the impact of premature birth and have raised nearly £200,000 for Action Medical Research.

Action Medical Research, whose HQ is in Horsham, is a UK-wide children’s charity which funds desperately needed research to tackle the diseases that devastate the lives of so many of our children.

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It has been funding medical breakthroughs for 70 years including helping to introduce the first polio vaccines in the UK, developing the use of ultrasound in pregnancy and testing the rubella vaccine.

The team set set out on its voyage from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on December 12, 2021 and completed the crossing in 41 days, 2 hours and 44 minutes.The team set set out on its voyage from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on December 12, 2021 and completed the crossing in 41 days, 2 hours and 44 minutes.
The team set set out on its voyage from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on December 12, 2021 and completed the crossing in 41 days, 2 hours and 44 minutes.

The team set set out on its voyage from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on December 12, 2021 and completed the crossing in 41 days, 2 hours and 44 minutes.

Elijah’s Star was the seventeenth boat in the fleet of 35 to reach their destination in Antigua as part of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge – known as the world’s toughest row.

The team battled extreme winds, scorching temperatures, painful blisters and severe sleep deprivation. As well as experiencing issues with the boat’s battery power in their fourth week at sea which involved careful power management for the last leg of the journey.

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The boat carries the names of over a thousand premature babies and was named after baby Elijah, a premature baby who was born at 25 weeks and three days, who lived for just 37 days.

Lewis Coghlin, Fundraising Director at Action Medical Research, said: "Everyone at Action is so grateful to the team for completing this incredible challenge in Elijah’s memory. Action helps fund vital research for sick babies and children, some of which looks into the causes of premature birth and the complications that can arise from it.

"We hope that through more research into premature birth and pregnancy complications we will be able to change things for the future and save more lives. Thank you to the team and to everyone who has donated to Elijah’s Star’s Atlantic challenge.”

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