SARAH OUTEN
“Why climb Mount Everest?” the New York Times asked the famous British mountaineer George Mallory in 1923. “Because it´s there,” he replied. If we were to ask Sarah Outen why she took on a 25,000-mile, round-the-world solo trip, the young British adventurer might answer in a similar way. On April 1, 2011, Outen launched London2London, an expedition that would take her in a loop around the Northern Hemisphere by bicycle and kayak. So far, Outen has biked across Europe, Russia and Japan before rowing her kayak-alone-across the open Pacific Ocean to Alaska´s Aleutian Islands, a voyage that took 150 days. Then it was back on the bike, nicknamed Hercules, for a ride starting in Homer, Alaska and finishing in Cape Cod (she pedaled straight though last winter´s horrendous snowstorms!). Right now, Outen is in her kayak named Happy Socks, on her final row across the North Atlantic before reaching England-a mere two years behind schedule, but who´s counting? Along the way, Outen became the first woman to row solo across the north Pacific, turned 30 years old, proposed to her longtime girlfriend Lucy, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for four charities. Earlier this month, she tweeted, “Rowing might not give many miles at the moment but it makes me happy. Every stroke we take, takes us nearer…” We´re pulling for you! -KL
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