Inspiring Welsh women donate Atlantic row challenge funds to RNLI

Denise Lenoard, Helen Heaton, Liz Collyer and Heledd Williams successfully complete the Atlantic challenge, rowing 3000 miles / 4,800 km from the volcanic shores of San Sebastian de La Gomera to Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua.

Setting off at the end of last year on the 12 December 2025, they reached Antigua 50 days, 14 hours and 43 minutes later, on the 2 February 2026. Reflecting on the achievement of a lifetime and all the money raised for charity, Liz Collyer said:

‘We chose to support the RNLI as we all live really near to the coast and lots of our friends are volunteers for the charity.

‘A few years ago I was a visitor ambassador for Pembrokeshire County Council, I worked quite closely with the RNLI and their beach lifeguards. Not to mention my family and I have always been lifelong supporters of the RNLI and we appreciate the lifesaving work they do in our local communities to save lives at sea.’

This team of four women from Wales, are now in an elite group of less than 600 women globally to have rowed across the Atlantic. Liz said:

‘What an experience to have gone through with three other incredible women. We know all the money we’ve raised will go on to positively impact our local communities and beyond and we’re so proud of our achievement.’

Thinking back to the moment they crossed the finish line, Liz added:

‘It was incredible, it wasn't until we were over the finish line that we realised we had done it! We couldn’t say we had accomplished it until we crossed that line, even when we saw land, we didn’t want to tempt fate by thinking we were going to make it.’

The ‘World’s Toughest Row’ is an unaided endurance rowing challenge where teams gather annually to test themselves against mother nature, crossing 3000 miles over the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean.

Translating to ‘Girls of the Sea’, the Merched y Mor women are residents of Pembrokeshire in south west Wales, a county renowned for its stunning beaches and coastline. The RNLI have multiple lifeboat stations and lifeguarded beaches on the Welsh coast, predominantly busy within the summer months with thousands of tourists visiting each year.

As part of their challenge, the group chose to raise vital funds for the RNLI that will support the charity in saving lives at sea. Alongside the RNLI, they raised £17,000 for Sea Trust Wales, Popham Kidney Support and Action For Children.

Merched y Mor was founded in 2022, when an idea started to become a reality. Liz said:

‘Firstly, I had to learn how to row, I had never done it before. That’s how we mainly spent our first year, with the others teaching me the ropes and building the foundations of our friendship.’

In their second year of training, the women took part in the Welsh Sea Rowing League races (Oct 2023) and did really well. That’s when they knew they had a strong team with potential and were determined to take on the challenge. Liz said:

‘We got our boat for the challenge in April 2024, we realised then that it wasn’t just an idea anymore. We named the boat Cariad and took her to St David's Cathedral to be blessed as part of the RNLI 200^th celebrations.

‘We trained out of Llangwm and Fishguard as they were the easiest places to launch. Each time we had to think about tides, weather and water conditions, making sure we were safe and not putting anyone at risk.

‘Luckily, and surprisingly for us, the weather was glorious during most of our training sessions. We had to do a minimum of 120 hours in order to qualify for the race, we made a point of doing twice that amount to show we were prepared and determined.’

Liz went on to explain the vital safety measures and precautions they had to follow before and during the challenge:

‘The row is organised by the ‘World's Toughest Row’ team and they have a strict set of rules that you need to adhere to in the lead up to the race. We had to complete the mandatory training hours and four compulsory courses: Navigation and Seamanship, First Aid at Sea, Sea Survival and a VHF radio course.

‘During the row, we always had three points of contact to the boat and were always clipped in with harnesses. We had PLBs (Personal Locator Beacons) attached to our harnesses, as well as a knife to cut ourselves lose in the case of an emergency.

‘We also had EPIRBs (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons) on the boat alongside a life raft with supplies that would see us through 24 hours. We had an emergency grab bag ready to go at any point, containing our passports and money in case we needed to board a nearby vessel.

‘We were also tracked the whole way, with a check in call every 2-3 days by the event safety team.

‘We spoke to tankers and other vessels nearby over radio communications, they often asked what we were up to and made sure we were alright, it was amazing having those discussions, we felt proud in what we were doing.

‘In one instance, a tanker ship was positioned for a head on collision with us. We summoned them on the radio and they adjusted course accordingly, that was pretty wild!’

All the navigation was done by the women themselves, and although there was safety cover on standby, they were unaided and alone in the open ocean throughout the race, with no aid or direct assistance in physical form. The women battled through varied weather conditions and wildlife throughout the challenge. Liz said:

‘The first couple of weeks were lovely, it was warm and the wind was pushing us south in the right direction. Around Christmas time, it was very clam, no wind, no swell, it was great for a while but there was barely any current taking us where we wanted to go. It was a real struggle, especially with such hot weather, we had to fight for every stroke.

‘As we progressed further across the Atlantic, we entered very confused seas. There were winds in all directions alongside big waves that crashed onto the boat.

‘Our boat kept turning in all sorts of directions and it was impossible to row in a straight line; it was really frustrating for us. There was torrential and endless rain, we were drenched from head to toe.

‘The mental exhaustion was the hardest and we had to hunker down for a few nights.

‘Leaning on each other we had to dig deep and find ways around our struggles. By the final stretch of the row, we got to a place where we could establish what would work and what wouldn’t when we found ourselves in these difficult conditions. It was a massive learning curve, and we enjoyed experimenting with our ideas.’

Liz explained how they had to enter the water for boat maintenance to remove barnacles that had clung to the bottom. During this task, Liz quickly discovered that she didn’t like deep water, or seaweed touching her feet. Liz said:

‘I was completely out of my comfort zone; however, I was tied on to the boat, and my fellow rowers were on shark watch! Apart from the adrenaline of potentially lurking sharks, the task itself was rather tedious. By the time you stop rowing, prep yourself, prep the boat, get in, scrape down and then get back out, it was an hour's worth of work.

For the majority of the row the ladies had a shift pattern of two hours on, two hours off – but they had to adapt to the conditions and their own wellbeing. Liz said:

‘Unfortunately, I was seasick for about 10 days, but luckily, I managed to row after five days. In that time, the shift pattern had to change, and we often had to adapt when one of us was unwell.’

Throughout the challenge, their food consisted of dehydrated ration packs, alongside some wet meals. After completing the row, they gave their leftover food to a local charity in Antigua, to support families in need.

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