In 2019, Lauren Woodwiss, alongside her friend Jemma Rix, set the World Record for the fastest female pair to row across the Atlantic Ocean. 8 weeks after stepping on to dry land, she then went on to finish 4th female at the infamous Marathon des Sables.
Currently living on the island of Borneo, she's also recently set up Frontier Sapiens; a UK-based film and live events company celebrating human spirit and the untold stories of inspirational people from around the globe.
Although her real passion lies in mountain running and mountain sports, Lauren discusses what led to her rowing across the Atlantic Ocean with zero rowing experience, and how the crossing encouraged her to set-up Frontier Sapiens.
New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am UK time - Make sure you hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out.
The Tough Girl Podcast is sponsorship and ad free thanks to the monthly financial support of patrons. To find out more about supporting your favourite podcast and becoming a patron please check out
www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast.
Show notes
- Who is Lauren and what she does
- What her childhood was like
- Getting into the mountains
- How the mountain running evolved
- Doing the Mount Blanc Marathon in 2014
- Wanting to row across the Atlantic Ocean….
- 18 months to plan and prepare for the row
- The steps that needed to be taken
- Figuring it out as they went
- Not thinking big picture
- Splitting the responsibility
- Both working full time while preparing for the row
- Paying for the race and figuring out funding
- Taking out a loan on the boat
- Sticking to a tight budget
- Saving money on food
- Dehydrating their own food - https://activeatfoods.com
- Comparing progress with other teams
- Handling the stress and pressure before the row
- The reasons for doing the row
- FOMO
- The strategy for the race
- What do you want to achieve
- Having 3 goals….
- Building up rowing endurance
- Making yourself strong and stopping injury
- Chafing and salt blisters
- The magical moments on the row across the Atlantic
- Then mental side of the race
- "You before me”
- Reaching the finish line and feeling overwhelmed
- Beating the record by 1hr 7 mins…
- Being signed up for the Marathon des Sables while on the row
- Making the transition from rower to runner
- Not training massive miles
- Having the attitude of ‘what will be, will be’
- Running with her husband
- Dealing with injury
- Running MDS again
- Starting Frontier Sapiens
- Connect with Lauren online
- Final words of advice to motivate and inspire you
Social Media
Frontier Sapiens - Celebrating stories of human spirit through film & live events