About Commando Joe

'Challenging the Extreme' captures the ethos of the Commando Joe team.

Our ongoing series of epic challenges has already witnessed team members push themselves to the limits of endurance in unforgiving Polar and desert landscapes, and the notoriously wild waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

The challenges were born out of tragedy, with team member Pete Rowlands losing his teenage son Gareth to meningitis. Close friends, many of them military men or former service personnel, rallied round in the family’s hour of need.

The upshot was a truly extraordinary charity fundraiser, beginning with a successful record-breaking team race to the North Pole in 2005. Nine days, 17 hours and 39 minutes saw the Commando Joe team walk and ski to their destination in the truly daunting Scott Dunn Polar Challenge.

Next, in 2006, Commando Joe Team Hesco rowed the Atlantic in the “Shepherd Ocean Fours,” with the record books re-written once again – and more than £250,000 raised for the Meningitis Trust.

Back on dry land, they flew the colours at the Sandbaggers Gobi Desert Challenge in Mongolia, shattering records for the notorious seven day, 150-mile ultra endurance event.

Closer to home, the 2009 Vango Scottish Ultra in Islay and Jura, spectacular islands in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, provided the next challenge.

Now, team member John Mollison is attempting a 3500-mile solo Atlantic row from the USA to the UK under the 'Shepherd Purple Heart Ocean Row' banner.

John and his support team are raising money for the British Ex-Servicemen’s Association (BLESMA) and awareness of the campaign to introduce an American-style Purple Heart decoration for servicemen and women killed or injured in the line of duty.

'Challenging the Extreme.' To be continued...