By: Jack M.
Rosalind “Roz” Savage is a 47-year-old environmentalist, conservationist, author and public speaker. And she is also an adventurer extraordinaire. She has run marathons, contributed to research on Inca ruins and spent three months travelling alone in Peru doing more research for one of her books, Three Peaks in Peru. But her passion, and what she will be remembered for, is rowing. We’re not talking about a Sunday afternoon paddle on the lake, or a leisurely cruise up the canal. Roz has taken on the world’s largest oceans—the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Indian—and she has rowed them all solo. The turning point in her life came in 2000, when, after 11 years of working as a management consultant in London, she was consumed with an overpowering need for change. The nine-to-five just wasn’t doing it for her. “There has got to be something more adventurous,” she thought, and where most of us might consider a change of jobs, a change of home, or even a change of wardrobe, Roz packed it all in—the career, the home in the ‘burbs and the convenience of the big city. She spent a few years exploring in South America, writing and running marathons, but it was the idea of rowing a boat that was constantly in the back of her mind. She had done some competitive rowing while attending Oxford University many years prior, and the lure of a pair of oars and a boat never quite left her.
British adventurer Roz Savage is the first woman to row across the three largest oceans…alone. She has spent about 500 days at sea, rowed 15,000 miles and used five million oar strokes.
In the closing days of 2005, Roz set out to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She left from the Canary Islands and arrived in Antigua 103 days later. Then she took on the Pacific. In 2008 she rowed from California to Hawaii, and from Hawaii to Papua, New Guinea, a total of 8,000 miles. Next was the Indian Ocean. In May of 2011, she set out from the west coast of Australia, arriving on the island of Mauritius five months later. This gave her the honour of becoming the first ever woman (and maybe the last) to successfully cross all three major oceans – solo. In all, Savage has spent about 500 days at sea, rowed 15,000 miles, and used five million oar strokes. She has battled 20 foot waves, capsized her boat more times than she remembers, encountered whales and sharks, and has had to deal with multiple broken oars, breakdowns in navigational and communications equipment, and run into every weather danger imaginable. In 2010, Roz Savage gave a TED talk and National Geographic named her Adventurer of the Year. Today Roz Savage travels the world campaigning for the environment and protection of the world’s oceans.
Olive McGloin is the first woman to survive the Pacific Crest Trail – both ways.
The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is a hiking trail that spans the American West Coast from the boarder of Mexico to the border of Canada. It’s one part of what is known as the Triple Crown of Hiking, and it’s not for the faint of heart or the weak of spirit. Made famous by the 2012 book Wild, and subsequently the 2014 film adaptation starring Reese Witherspoon, the PCT is one of the most physically-demanding treks on the planet. More than two-and-a-half thousand miles long, the trail’s elevation ranges from sea level to a lung-draining 13,000 feet.
In late April of 2014, Olive McGloin, a 44-year-old air traffic controller from Dublin, set out from the southernmost point in California with her husband, Darrell, on what would become a six-month odyssey through mountains, valleys, forests, desert, water, ice and snow. After more than three months of experiencing what would bring most of us to our knees, she arrived at the edge of Manning Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada. McGloin and her husband had endured the sweltering heat of the mid-day sun and the bone-chilling nights of the high Sierra Nevada Mountains. They encountered brown bears, rattle snakes, wild cats and swarms of stinging wasps. They knew hunger, isolation and sleepless nights.
So what did they do when they arrived at the U.S.-Canada border? Where most would have likely sought out a warm bath, soft mattress and a steak dinner, the undaunted Irish duo did a U-turn and headed right back to southernmost edge of California. They attempted what’s often called a yo-yo trip. But that’s when trouble hit. Olive’s husband, Darrell, injured himself badly and was forced to abandon the second leg of the hike. Olive herself was forced into an equally-harrowing dilemma—quit to look after Darrell, or soldier on. Darrell received the medical help he needed, and with his insistence and Olive’s own stubbornness and tenacity, she decided to carry on, alone, knowing full well the dangers that were ahead of her. The husband and wife team parted company on the Bridge of the Gods, which spans the Columbia River, in Washington State, and three months later, Olive McGloin became the first woman ever to complete the Pacific Crest Trail, both ways. You can view a documentary that the couple made along the way here.
Sources: irishtimes.com
