Five men are rowing across the Atlantic to raise money in memory of the late Saoirse O’Driscoll.

13-year-old Saoirse O’Driscoll passed away in April 2023 as a result of congenital heart disease.

Saoirse’s father is one of the five men taking on this 5,000 kilometre expedition.

The group will begin their rowing on December 12th as part of the World’s Toughest Row race.

A map of the World's Toughest Row Challenge route. Image: worldstoughestrow.com. 20/11/2024

On The Pat Kenny Show, Mr O’Driscoll said the journey across the Atlantic is similar in many ways to the journey a person with congenital heart disease goes through.

“Although it's so vastly different, at the end of the day, rowing an ocean is full of so many unknowns, and Saoirse's life was full of so many unknowns," he said.

“There was only a limited amount of things that we could do for Saoirse, so in many ways the journey across the Atlantic kind of mirrored that.”

Saoirse O'Driscoll with balloons to celebrate her 13th birthday.

Mr O’Driscoll said that all the money raised would be donated to charity.

“We've self-funded the expedition ourselves,” he said.

“So, all the money raised will go to the charity partners.

“We've all made the financial commitment at the start of this race that we will fund any incidentals that have to be bought – or travel [expenses], all those things, that's covered by the team.

"Every penny raised, 100% of the funds, will be given to charity.”

The journey

Team member Enda McNicholas said the five men had been training seven days a week for nearly two years.

“It starts in the Canary Islands in a small island off the coast of Tenerife called La Gomera,” he said.

“I think one of the biggest challenges we'll face is we won't see land after one of the islands, so after about two days.”

Despite rowing the Atlantic Ocean during winter, member Daragh Kelly said cold water likely will not be the biggest issue.

“It's actually going to be quite warm,” he said.

“Except if we hit storms, we're going to get wet.

“Waves could be up to 20 meters in height – we have no idea what that's going to be like.”

The team has already surpassed their fundraising goal of €250,000, which will be donated to Heart Children Ireland and the heart centre in Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

Contributions can be made at teampowerof1.com.