22-year-old Katie Spotz has just launched a solo row across the Atlantic Ocean, all the way from Africa to South America.
Katie Spotz hails from Mentor, Ohio—a long way away from any ocean. But these days, she’s making up for lost time: five days ago, the 22-year-old set off from the Port of Dakar in Senegal in a specially equipped rowboat. Her goal is to complete a solo row across the Atlantic Ocean, all the way from Africa to South America. If she’s successful, she’ll be the youngest person and the first American to ever complete the 2,500-mile journey.
Though Spotz rowed on her college crew team, she’s never participated in such a large-scale row before. Nonetheless, she’s no stranger to endurance challenges: in recent years, she’s swum the length of the 325-mile Allegheny River, cycled from Seattle to Washington, D.C., completed a 150-mile run across the Mojave and Colorado Desert, and came in first for her age division in a Half Ironman Triathlon.
Spotz knows that enduring heavy currents, strong winds, and frequent storms in the middle of the ocean won’t be easy. But she believes the ability to complete physical challenges has more to do with willpower than anything else—and she’s got that in spades.
“I never thought I could run 26 miles,” Spotz told the New York Times. “But once I finished one challenge, I realized maybe I could do something even bigger.”
Spotz is selling corporate sponsorships to fund the trip, and is also working to raise an additional $30,000 for a non-profit group called Blue Planet Run, which funds projects that provide safe drinking water to the billion people around the world who lack it.
If Spotz successfully completes her one-woman journey across the Atlantic, she’ll return home for a much-needed rest approximately three months from now. But she doesn’t expect to stay still for long.
“I’m sure I’ll find something else,” she said. “Just don’t tell my mom.”
Update: Katie Spotz has completed her journey! Learn more.