A Galway man has won the solo class in The World’s Toughest Row, completing a 4,800km journey across the Atlantic Ocean in fewer than 40 days.
On Friday morning, Daragh MacLoughlin rowed into Antigua in the Caribbean after 39 days, 20 hours and 16 minutes at sea, from La Gomera in the Canary Islands.
After finishing the race on his boat The Jasper, he told RTÉ News at One, “I feel like I’ve been beamed down from another planet”.
“Thirty-nine days, thirty-nine nights on your own, on a boat about seven metres long and one metre wide, with no human contact and then all of a sudden, catapulted into the welcoming arms of friends and family is just absolutely amazing but it’s a bit of a shock to the system.”
The World’s Toughest Row got under way on December 14th, 2025.
He said completing the race was a high for him. “To say that you’ve gone 4,800km across the Atlantic, through whatever it can throw at you and it threw everything at me, to say that you did that and you did that alone is just absolutely amazing.”
On the other hand, he said loneliness was a struggle, particularly during the first week.
“But with the support of my wife and my family, I was able to put that to one side and focus on the job at hand which was to row, row, row and ultimately complete the crossing.
The 42-year-old has been raising funds for two Irish charities: Irish Dogs for the Disabled and butterfly skin charity Debra Ireland. So far, donations stand at over €17,000, surpassing his €10,000 goal.
MacLoughlin at sea in his row boat. Photograph: World’s Toughest Row
He described the competition as a “catalyst to shine a light on two fantastic charities.”
After more than a month at sea, Mr MacLoughlin said, “it’s going to take me a couple of hours to just get my feet back on the ground and even on the subject of being on the ground.”
He added his legs are still feeling “very shaky”.
With 43 rowing boats taking part, some with teams of two, three or four people, Mr MacLoughlin, by himself, came 14th overall and took top spot in the solo class.
“I live by the ethos of ‘be better today than yesterday’ every day and this certainly has played into that,” he said.