John O’Groats no longer the destination for rowers misidentified as ‘illegal migrants’

The team of four endurance rowers who were mistaken for possible illegal migrants by an MP won’t be going all the way to John O’Groats after all.

Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley are seeking to raise £57 million for research into motor neurone disease (MND) by tackling four major rowing challenges in as many years.

The first was to be from Land’s End to John O’Groats, via the Irish Sea. After facing strong headwinds, the experienced ROW4MND crew decided to return to the start line and continue the journey via the English Channel and east coast – and were forced to shelter from Storm Floris at one point.

Now they have announced they are ending the trip in Edinburgh rather than going all the way to Caithness. By the time they reach the Forth Bridge this Friday, the rowers will have covered about 865 nautical miles.

While rowing off the Norfolk coast last week, the crew were misidentified as potential illegal migrants by Rupert Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth.

Mr Lowe, who was elected as a Reform UK MP but now sits as an independent, posted a photo on social media on Thursday showing their boat at sea and contacted the authorities.

He wrote: “If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported. Enough is enough.”

In a later post, Mr Lowe acknowledged that it was a “false alarm” and he has donated £1000 to the ROW4MND appeal.

Since the misidentification took place, donations have rocketed with almost £30,000 being raised in 72 hours.

Next year the team will aim to row from John O’Groats to Land’s End. After that the challenge will be to go from California to Hawaii in 2027, then New York to London in 2028, with an ambition to raise £57 million for MND research.

More than £135,000 has been pledged so far on the ROW4MND online donation page.

The significance of the “57” in their £57m overall target lies in the respective shirt numbers of rugby players Doddie Weir and Rob Burrow, both of whom died after being diagnosed with MND.

Three charities will benefit – the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, the Motor Neurone Disease Association and the Leeds Hospitals Charity.

Matthew Parker, co-founder of ROW4MND, said: “This challenge has been 18 months in the making, and 2025 was always about setting the foundations.

“We have twin objectives – raising awareness about this cruel illness, which will affect one in 300 people over a lifetime, and raising vital funds to find a cure.

“We have met many people along the way and heard moving stories from those affected by this dreadful disease. Reading the comments on our donations page has been something that has strengthened our resolve when times got tough.”

Fellow rower and ROW4MND co-founder Mike Bates said: “A huge amount of effort and detail goes into planning a challenge like this. Coastal rowing is very different to ocean rowing, and we’ve experienced some of the most challenging conditions any of us have faced.

“We’d like to thank Rupert Lowe MP for inadvertently bringing the eyes of the world onto our crew, which has opened the floodgates in terms of donations. Maybe he can lend a few further words of encouragement for the second leg next year.”

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