E ight women presented insights and anecdotes from their amazing â and often fairly bonkers â endurance adventures around the world last night as the NLA hosted âadventure inspirationâ.
The event, created to raise money in support of charities behind Club Pelotonâs London to Cannes bike ride taking place in March including Coram, kicked off with journalist Sam McClaryâs account of âThe Challengeâ.
The deputy editor of Estates Gazette cycled or ran 1,100 miles in 15 days, visiting 13 cities throughout the UK on the way. She told the audience that challenges were really about the âdark momentsâ and suffering during the trip, which got very real and emotional on day two. âTheyâre about finding out who you really are, and being okay with thatâ. Before embarking on it, McClary had thought she was ânot a crierâ, âa kick-ass kinda girl who got shit doneâ, and âtougher than thatâ. âThat, I have learnt, is entirely bollocksâ, she said. âThese moments teach us about the truthâ, âwhich is why we must take them onâ.
Ski touring in Arctic Norway was next, with impressive drone footage of their experiences shown by Sue Rowland and Rachel Shaw, where the battle was in part against the elements and stark landscapes. âWe had quite a lot of face-down contact with the snowâ, said Shaw, âbut eventually we started to become competent skiers off pisteâ. Rowland told how it could be âutterly terrifyingâ and had been hard work going uphill at altitude but the rewards included âcreating fresh tracks through amazing snowâ.
And then it was on to the talkâs main organiser Sarah Jenkinson, who spoke about the Baja Divide, her 2700km journey on 95% unpaved roads in south America with her boyfriend, conquering the main challenges of water, heat, remoteness, cactus thorns, snakes and spiders. âBut the real challenge was fearâ, said Jenkinson. She felt she would deal with it âlike Wonder Womanâ, but the main issue for Jenkinson was the technical ability and strength required for mountain-biking. On the upsides there was the beautiful terrain, including âmagicalâ sunsets and sunrises, birds of prey and wildlife, the generosity and kindness of locals who helped her along the way and, ultimately, the realisation of the benefits that the simple things of life can bring.
For Kate Horton of Knight Frank, her exceptional challenge was a Mission in Malawi with double Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes and others, involving a 25km trail run up a mountain, extreme mountain bike ride and then 20km kayak under the blistering African sun. But one of the key joys of the âlife changingâ event had been being greeted by appreciative singing kids from a local orphanage, learning about forward-thinking nutrition projects in the area, sponsoring school kids, and helping raise the profile of sport in a country where more than half its people are living below the poverty line. Horton would âseriously recommendâ the trip. âNever could I have known how much it would impact my life. Really donât be afraid to give it a goâ, she advised. âItâs easy to focus on the fears but these really are the moments that you learn so much about yourself.â
PedElle founders Jen Ross and Claire Treanorâs trip from Vancouver to the Mexican border by bike was, they admitted, a more relaxed affair. But it was still some 4,500km across four states which they did on sabbatical, whilst enduring only one puncture and one day of rain, and enjoying surfing and drop-in Yoga classes (really important for us) along the way. âIt was all about allowing the world to unfoldâ, said Ross. The pair relied heavily on the Komoot app to plan their journey. The only downsides were getting lost, forest fires and the realisation of the scale of homelessness they witnessed along the way. But again, to those considering taking on similar adventures â even those requiring career breaks â the advice was: âdo itâ.
Finally, Zoe Sharpe took the audience through the gruelling Marathon des Sables event she completed in 2011, with its âDune dayâ and sandstorms to negotiate along the 156-mile total run over seven days in April. âThe colour palette is pretty beigeâ, she joked, and the equivalent of the broom van was a pair of camels that, if they overtook you, meant you were out. Sharpe said it had been often impossible to judge distance, she used âdiversion tacticsâ with a fellow runner to help each other get through the days, had experienced the magical, unrivalled clear skies of the Sahara, and revealed that there were tears again from the whole group as they were read supportive emails from those back home. âIâve always been a bit of an adventurerâ, said Sharpe.
Discussion ranged from the âInstagram-isationâ of events versus feeling them for real, the necessity of planning and being prepared, and the âdark momentsâ and difficult times that confirmed that it is okay to cry, and lifted such challenges into the memorable.
âI think we proved tonightâ, said Jen Ross, âthat the word âcanâtâ is bollocksâ.