#THANKFULTHURSDAY Real-life superwomen, Whale of a Time
#THANKFULTHURSDAY Real-life superwomen, Whale of a Time
In the wake of International Women’s Day 2020, we at Mintridge HQ are feeling proud, inspired and grateful to be women. For us, this is actually a fairly regular feeling though, as we work daily with some incredible female athletes who are amazing ambassadors for Mintridge and advocates for women in sport. Many of whom have joined the powerful #Unlocked Campaign with our friends at the Women’s Sport Trust.
This week, however, we were scrolling through Facebook and up popped the Atlantic Campaign’s International Women’s Day video featuring the faces of Jemma and Lauren or, as they’re also known, team Whale of a Time.
These two incredible women did something extraordinary last year. They rowed across the Atlantic and they broke the world record for a female pair by one hour and five minutes. What’s more, they did this to raise money for the Mintridge Foundation, FareShare and Cancer Research UK.
To put the enormity of this feat into perspective, here are some statistics for you.
3000 miles
27 teams
8,000-10,000 calories burnt daily
50 days, 5 hours and 53 minutes (which is still the world record for a female pair)
Over 1,000,000 strokes
Equivalent to 115 marathons back-to-back (but with the Atlantic Ocean to contend with at the same time
£35,000 raised for their chosen charities!
“I don’t quite think Jemma and Lauren appreciate just how impactful they are as human beings.
Not only have they empowered everyone around them to achieve whatever you choose to put your mind to, “You’re putting one foot in front of the other, heading to the gym each day, and the next thing, you are in the middle of the Atlantic” said Lauren at our SportSpiel Reception last May, but they have enabled the Mintridge Foundation to develop our programmes to create the next generation of female gamechangers with the valuable funds raised.
I was fortunate to see these crazy cats cross that finishing line in Antigua, and to see them still laughing, giggling and still being the best of friends after the hardship that they had endured is exactly what sport is about for me – challenging and fun.”
Alex Wallance, Mintridge Foundation’s Founder & Director
Jemma and Lauren became friends during their time playing hockey together at University and sport has been an integral part of their friendship. As well as university hockey, they have run marathons and competed in triathlons together, but this was a challenge that would have tested even closest friendships.
Lauren had always been addicted to any kind of extreme feat of endurance, being a mountain and Ultra Marathon runner, Ironman finisher and qualified PT. Jemma worked in the fruit and veg industry and had run a couple of marathons and a Half Ironman. Her role was to bring the enthusiasm, drive and food. In fact, she dehydrated all the food that they consumed during the challenge from leftovers!
Prior to their departure, both Jemma and Lauren undertook a huge amount of fundraising with us to raise awareness of their challenge and the Mintridge Foundation. A particular highlight was when they rowed for 10 hours in Canary Wharf whilst being cheered on by England Deaf Footballer, Fil Kamps, and Olympic 800m runner, Marilyn Okoro.
Their journey included 3 days of savage seasickness, visits from whales, flying fish, dolphins, turtles, sharks and ‘monster fish’, Lady Gaga power hour sessions, Christmas, New Year and a 30th birthday at sea, storms, power failures, salt sores, infuriatingly calm water, claw hands, jumping into the ocean to clean barnacles off the bottom of the boat and an emotional arrival in Antigua one hour and five minutes ahead of the previous world record holding, female pair. You can catch-up on their journey here.
They have been back on terra firma for just over a year and you would have thought that they would have decided to take it easy and put their feet up a bit. Not a chance. The pair attended the Talisker Atlantic Campaigns award ceremony and shared some of the tales from their adventure with an audience for the Mintridge Foundation. In fact, their support of Team Mintridge hasn’t stopped and they are sharing their story with different organisations to help raise further valuable funds. If you would you like to hear them speak contact alex@mintridge.org.uk.
Lauren ran the Marathon Des Sables, a six-day ultra-marathon race across the desert, just two months after arriving in Antigua, climbed some serious mountains in Norway, ran up some more mountains in the Alps, got married and moved to Brunei, where she is continuing to take part in impressive races. You can be amazed by this superwomen by following her on Instagram, @laurenwoodwiss.
Jemma has taken on a very different kind of adventure. Inspired by producing and dehydrating all the food that she and Lauren ate whilst rowing across the Atlantic and then keeping Lauren alive with her dehydrated food whilst she ran the Marathon Des Sables, she has set up her own business, ActivEat Foods. Activeat Foods provides delicious, nutritious, home-cooked meals that have been dehydrated so they are light enough to be taken anywhere.
We’ve already mentioned that she fuelled Lauren across the desert, but she has also fuelled teams in the recent Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge, team Brain Waves as they attempt to row across two oceans in one year (Instagram @_monkeyfist) and the Ledbury Ladies as they ride in the Gaucho Derby (Instagram @ledbury_ladies_gauchoderby2020), a 10-day, 500km horse racing adventure across Patagonia.
These girls certainly can. They are an inspiration to us and awesome ambassadors for womankind. You go girl!
If you would love to undertake a challenge and get involved in triathlon, swimming or cycling but don’t know where to start, check out Her Spirit. They have local hubs, a global community, mass participation events a tailored coaching via there app to take you from ‘frightened to fearless’.
If you are taking on a challenge, we would love to hear from you. Through raising funds for The Mintridge Foundation, you could be enabling the future generations to beat it. What could be better than that? Get in touch with Alex at alex@mintridge.org.uk.