He attended Whitestone School and Christian Brothers College, Bulawayo (St Patrick's).

He studied Business Science at the University of Cape Town, graduating with First Class Honours in 2007.

His competed in his first trail race, the Crow Pass Crossing, in July 2010, finishing in 19th position in the men's division.

In January 2012 Rowland ran a 70 km race from Licanray to Villarica in the south of Chile.

In March 2012, Rowland competed in his first multi-day stage race, the RacingThePlanet 4 Deserts: Atacama Crossing.

[9] At the end of September 2012, Rowland quit his job with AngloAmerican and took up trail running full-time.

[16] Rowland's 2014 season started off with a podium finish when he took third place in his age group and in the overall race in the Columbia Trail Challenge in Olmué, Chile.

[17] In May, he travelled to Cusco, Peru for the Beyond the Ultimate Jungle Ultra, a race from the Andes to the Amazon.

He won in a time of 27:01:20, winning the first four of five stages[18] Rowland moved to Switzerland in August 2014 to further his running career in Europe.

[26] Rowland featured in Episodes 7, 12 and 13 of the TrailTalkSA podcasts in 2013 talking about the preparations and achievements of his 2013 racing season.