Sarah Outen

Sarah Dilys Outen, born on 26 May 1985, is a British rower, cyclist, kayaker, adventurer and motivational speaker. She began rowing in 2004 while reading Biology at St Hugh's College, Oxford. In 2009 she rowed solo across the Indian Ocean from Fremantle, Western Australia, to Mauritius in 124 days, becoming the first woman and the youngest person to do so and earning three Guinness World Records, and raising more than 30,000 pounds for two arthritis charities. In 2011 she set out on London2London: Via the World, a 20,000 mile loop by bicycle, kayak and rowing boat. In 2013 she became the first woman to row solo from Japan to Alaska, arriving at Adak Island after 150 days. She kayaked the Aleutian chain, cycled across North America, abandoned her Atlantic crossing in 2015 after 143 days at sea, and completed the circuit at Tower Bridge in London on 3 November 2015. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and appointed MBE in 2011 for services to rowing, conservation and charity.