Ocean rowers visit the Rob Burrow Centre for MND

Ocean rowers Mike Bates and Gareth Timmins have visited the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in Leeds days before setting off on a gruelling Irish Sea endurance row to raise money for research and treatment.

- julian pearce Contributor

Crewmembers Mike Bates and Sarah Griffin - Director of Communications at Leeds Hospitals Charity, Julia Day - Volunteer, Gail Chapman - Event Fundraiser and Jenna Jordan, Clinical Nurse Specialist

Bates and Timmins are part of a crew of four ocean rowers taking on the next leg of a mission to raise £57m over four years.

The ROW4MND team, consisting of four highly experienced athletes, are embarking on the gruelling second leg of a challenge on Saturday (March 7). Taking place over an expected ten-day period, the route requires them to row for 24 hours a day in cold, dark and harsh conditions across the Irish Sea.

Building on the success of last year's challenge, which raised more than £140,000 over the summer, the March leg of the 2026 ROW4MND campaign will start at Dale in Pembrokeshire and end on the Western Isles of Scotland.

The team aim to complete another leg later this year, to further funds raised for Leeds Hospitals Charity, My Name's Doddie Foundation, and Motor Neurone Disease Association.

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