ROW4MND: Mike Bates and Gareth Timmins on Rob Burrow, motor neurone disease and raising £57m

Mike Bates and Gareth Timmins are marvelling at a sentence which has been quoted often in recent years and is now imprinted high in the foyer of the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease for all visitors to see.

“In a world full of adversity, we must dare to dream.”

It is the kind of inspiration that the pair might have in mind, right now, during a mission to raise £57m over four years.

The ROW4MND team, consisting of four highly experienced athletes also including entrepreneur Matt Parker, as well as accredited ocean rowing coach and Royal Marine, Aaron Kneebone, started the second leg of the fundraising challenge at Dale in Pembrokeshire on Saturday.

Over an initially expected 10-day period, the route requires them to row across the Irish Sea. At the time of writing, however, they had been forced ashore on the west coast of Northern Ireland.

With storms approaching, the crew had to make a last-minute call to head for the fishing town of Portavogie, south of Belfast and would be on land until the weather improved, delaying their mission to reach the Western Isles of Scotland.

Co-founder of ROW4MND and experienced ocean rower Mike said: “When you’re in a five-metre rowing boat in the pitch black, with a storm incoming, there is zero margin for error. The safety of our four crew members is paramount, and we need to be adaptable to change.

“At one point, I was sat on deck with a distress flare in my hand, ready to go. For anyone who is in any doubt how tough this challenge is, it is beyond tough.”

The row builds on the success of last year’s challenge, which raised more than £140,000 over the summer. The team aim to complete another leg later this year, to further funds raised for Leeds Hospitals Charity, My Name’s Doddie Foundation and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Ultimately, they have joined the MND community in seeking a cure for the devastating disease.

Ahead of their challenge, Mike and Gareth visited the MND centre based at Seacroft Hospital on Wednesday last week for a tour, hearing about the work they will help to fund.

The centre opened in November last year and Sarah Griffin, Director of Engagement at Leeds Hospitals Charity, explains why it was so necessary.

“The previous ward where MND clinics were held, it just wasn't really designed with patients and families in mind, and particularly for wheelchair access,” she says. “So to be able to have this amazing new centre designed hand in hand with those patients and families and the staff members who care for them is really special because it feels like a building that has been built specifically for them. It's fully accessible, it's got all the right spaces and facilities that they need and feels incredibly welcoming when you walk through the door and it doesn't have some of the hiccups that they have to deal with previously around accessibility and space and green spaces out in the garden. So to have that transformation, we already know from patients, is making a huge difference to how they deal with their diagnosis and how they're able to be cared for here at Seacroft Hospital.”

Mike Bates, co-founder of ROW4MND, who is based in Leeds, donated £60,000 to the build of the centre following a solo Atlantic row and was at the official opening by HRH The Prince of Wales last year.

He said: “This visit will absolutely spur me on in every dark moment over the coming weeks of the challenge. While my home in Yorkshire may be a fair distance from the sea, anybody wanting to see how we’re doing can track our journey live online over the coming weeks. If you can, please do get behind us online.”

People can track the crew’s progress on the ROW4MND website, where videos and pictures from the boat are being uploaded.

Gareth, 41, is joining the team for the first time. He’s a former Royal Marines Commando who became a bestselling author and behavioural and cognitive performance strategist.

He says: “It's been an unbelievably humbling experience today, seeing the work that's gone into the place, just the attention to detail and it really does just bring it home, what we're actually doing. Although the last couple of weeks, I've been filled with trepidation and whatever else, I do feel like for the greater good, it's made it all seem very, very worthwhile and it’s just an unbelievable place. What's been done here and what's been donated in order to make this happen is truly incredible.”

As a teenager growing up in Hemsworth, Gareth had been a talented rugby league player and was offered a contract by Leeds Rhinos but took the tough decision to turn it down due to financial terms.

Years on, Rhinos legend Burrow now provides inspiration for the challenge.

“He was such a larger than life guy,” says Gareth. “I can't profess to have known him very well. I was at Leeds’ academy when I was younger and we kind of crossed paths every now and again, predominantly in pre-season. But how he played the game, the odds that were stacked against him to turn professional in rugby league given his height and whatnot, and the kind of the impact that he had in the game was absolutely incredible.

"A lot of what Rob stood for and how he fought the disease in the end and how he went about that in a very public sense, I think, is unbelievably inspiring and I think that is what can carry us all on.”

ROW4MND is a four-year plan which will see the team take on some of the toughest ocean rows – including the North Atlantic in 2028 – in a bid to raise £57 million, a figure inspired by the shirt numbers worn by rugby legends Doddie Weir (5) and Rob Burrow (7), who both died from the disease.

Mike, a former covert counter-terrorism operations leader who in 2023 became the fastest solo rower to complete the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge, says: “I think you've got to sacrifice a little bit of your own today for someone's tomorrow.”

Clinical nurse specialist Jenna Jordan offers an alternative inspirational quote: “I think you’re bonkers - but I think it’s great.”

For more information or to donate, visit www.row4mnd.com