Since the age of 13, after reading about 2 fishermen rowing the Atlantic, Olly’s dream has been to row the oceans.

Born in 1981, Olly grew up between London and the family farm in Derbyshire where he developed his love of the outdoors. Spending summer holidays on the Suffolk coast tinkering with boats instilled a love of the sea and anything to do with being in, on or near the water.

After leaving school Olly travelled widely, spending time working on a conservation project in Kenya and travelling, by train, to Hong Kong.

Olly then studied at Newcastle University, graduating with a BSc in Countryside Management.  During his time in Northumberland Olly spent much of his spare time fell running and Kayaking, in training for the Marathon des Sables and the Yukon River Quest.

2003: Marathon Des Sables (160 miles across the Sahara desert)
2004: Yukon River Quest (450 mile non stop kayak race)
2005: First and youngest to row solo from USA- UK
2006: Virgin Row documentary screened at the Royal Geographical Society
2007: Sails across south Atlantic from Cape Horn – Cape Town
2008: Environmental research on board expedition yacht in Antarctic Peninsula, Global Row research
2009: First row of the Tasman Sea, from Tasmania to New Zealand
2010: Circumnavigates the Falklands by yacht
2011: Fastnet race

2006: Peter Bird Trophy – awarded at the Dijon Film Festival for tenacity and perseverance
           Moscow Film Festival first prize in adventure category
2007: Highly commended as a young philanthropist by the Beacon Fellowship Charitable Trust
2011: Nominated for Dijon Film Festival adventure category, for Tenacity on the Tasman
           Nominated for Banff Adventure Film Festival awards category, for Tenacity on the Tasman

When not planning or away on expeditions, Olly gives motivational talks to schools and businesses  and produces documentaries of his trips which have won several film festival awards.  Olly speaks on self motivation, achieving seemingly impossible goals, and the rewards of perseverance in order to follow dreams. Olly particularly enjoys speaking to young audiences - inspiring the minds of the future to fulfil their potential. It was at school that Olly found his calling to row the oceans.

Olly has now raised over £160,000 for charity, and for his longstanding work with Hope and Homes for Children won a young philanthropists commendation from The Beacon Fellowship charitable trust.
The Beacon Fellowship acknowledges and rewards exceptional philanthropic acts by individuals for their giving of time, leadership, money, skills and ideas, and works to highlight motivating role models to to inspire and educate the next generation of philanthropists.

In 2006 Olly was awarded the Peter Bird Trophy - an award to recognise exceptional tenacity and perseverance, as displayed by Peter Bird, and to commemorate his loss at sea in 1996.

The award was made to Olly, the youngest solo ocean rower, for his solo row across the North Atlantic fom New York, USA, to the Isles of Scilly, UK.

Olly also manages to fit in a full time job working as a headhunting consultant in London.