After 38 days and four hours alone with the Atlantic, Ollie Phillips finally stepped ashore – sunburnt, salt-cracked and carrying one of endurance sport’s hardest-earned finishes. The former England Rugby Sevens star and long-time Karma Group Ambassador has just completed the World’s Toughest Row, a charity crossing from La Gomera to Antigua that pushes crews to their physical and mental edge.
From Ollie’s own accounts, the days blurred into a brutal rhythm: rowing in two-hour shifts, sleeping in bursts, navigating pitch-black nights, towering swells and storms that rearranged both boat and body. There were moments of exhaustion so deep they bordered on hallucination – offset by long, silent sunrises and the humbling scale of the open ocean. Every mile was earned, oar by oar.
Karma Group proudly supported Ollie’s crossing as a sponsor – part of a relationship built on shared values of resilience, optimism and adventure. That spirit now carries into ‘The Eternal Optimist’ podcast, launching live at The Kenton Theatre, Henley-on-Thames, where Ollie joins fellow adventurer Sophie Storm Roberts, with appearances from the Turner Twins. You can grab tickets for the live conversation here
Members can also catch Ollie in person at Karma’s Legends of Rugby: Charity Gala – proof that this is one inspirational journey that didn’t end at the shoreline.
