FOUR women will be walking the whole of the South Downs Way, while carrying a rowing boat, to raise awareness for women and girls in sport.
Starting from Winchester, the group titled ‘There She Rows’ will trek 100 miles within four days over the Easter weekend, finishing in Eastbourne.
The team of four, Victoria Monk, 30, Ana Zigic, 27, Ellie Reynolds, 24, and Molly Green, 26, is aiming to break the world record for the longest distance travelled by foot while carrying a boat.
The 100-mile walk forms part of a broader campaign to raise the profile of women’s sport which will finish with a 3,000-mile Atlantic Ocean row at the end of the year.
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The women – previously strangers – united in 2022 to form ‘There She Rows’, with a shared belief that more needs to be done to ensure sport is a safe and inclusive space for all.
They hope to highlight the inequalities that exist for women in sport – in particular, the number of girls that drop out of sport when they reach puberty with their upcoming expedition.
Each mile represents 10,000 girls that drop out of sport each. All the women have sporting backgrounds including activities such as ironwoman races, ultra marathons, cold water swimming, rowing and rugby.
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Team captain Victoria Monk said: “More than half of girls will quit playing sport by age 17 missing out on its myriad benefits for the rest of their lives and we want to change that.
“All four of us have been lucky enough to benefit from sport throughout our lives – physically, mentally, personally and professionally – and we want to help inspire the next generation of girls and women to fall in love with sport and exercise.
“We wanted to walk the length of the South Downs Way to help raise the profile and inspire more women and girls to get into sport. By carrying the rowing boat with us, we represent the countless barriers preventing girls from getting involved with, or staying in sport.”
There She Rows is fundraising for the Women’s Sport Trust, Endometriosis UK and Teenage Cancer Trust. For more information or to donate go to gofundme/theresherows.
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