Team ROWMADS

Team Rowmads and the GB Row Challenge

Thursday, 16 July 2026 Team Rowmads completed their epic row around Great Britain in a world record-breaking time of 32 days, 30 minutes and 58 seconds, making the Guinness World Record in unassisted five-man row around Great Britain. 

Spotted-seal have been proud supporters of these five brave (if, as their name suggests, slightly mad) men as they tackled the GB Row Challenge 2026 in a quest to circumnavigate Great Britain. Dubbed 'The world's toughest rowing race', the GB Row Challenge is 3500km of changing tides, unsparing currents and the delightfully unpredictable British weather. Battling power cuts, rough seas and perpetually soggy bottoms Mother Nature put Team Rowmads through their paces, and then some.

With their shared love of adventure and laundry-list of endurance challenges behind them, the collective achievements of Mike, Stef, Felix, Marco and Sam stack high and wide to impress the most hardened, lactic-acid addicted fitness fanatics. Make no mistake, this was no vanity project, but a common cause to give back. Hand-in-hand with living, rowing, navigating, rationing and overcoming all of the obvious (and not so obvious) challenges co-existing for 32 days on a metal tube no bigger than the size of a single-prop Piper Cherokee presented, was their shared passion to make a positive impact and create a lasting legacy. Combining their respective medical, engineering and environmental backgrounds Team Rowmads' achievement includes not only rowing 2000 miles around the UK- but conducting vital marine conservation research including studying micro plastics in our seas, our human impact on wildlife, salinity and temperature data, in addition to team medical and behavioural research. 

Theirs was a mission with a purpose which strikes at the heart of spotted-seal's celebration of our coast. Be sure to follow them @spottedseal_norfolklife , @rowmads and @gbrowchallenge and check our our Changing Tides collection of hoodies and t-shirts inspired by Team Rowmads and the GB Row Challenge made in cool coastal tones and all made and printed in the UK!