All systems row for Atlantic challenge
Elaine can’t wait to attempt fastest solo crossing
Elaine Hopley is all set to challenge one of the mightiest oceans in the world.
The Dunblane rower will head off at the end of next week to take part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.
The 45-year-old is aiming to become the fastest female to solocross the Atlantic, aiming to go the 3000 miles from La Gomera in the Canaries to the Caribbean island of Antigua in under 70 days.
She will be travelling in a 22ft boat and will have to row more than 43 miles a day to keep to the 70-day schedule .
Her boat is already packed up, and the keen sportswoman is all set for the epic and daunting challenge.
“I’m really excited,” she said. “I am so happy to have got to the stage where I am ready to head off, it already feels like an achievement.
“Sometimes I need to keep saying to myself that I have made the start line and that this is actually happening. It is just so hard to get to the start line, so many people fail, and I have been told I have one of the most organised teams - which is nice.
“I am absolutely going for it. As soon as I leave the start line, I will be aiming to get across as quickly as I can, but I also want to enjoy it.”
Elaine has spent more than three years fundraising for the challenge, and hopes during the trans-ocean row to net thousands of pounds for Alzheimers Scotland in memory of her late mother Janice, who suffered from earlyonset dementia.
Securing sponsors and sourcing the equipment needed has almost been a harder task than training for the event for Elaine, with extremely high safety standards set by the race organisers.
“It has taken me eight months to get through the list of items that are required,” she said. “I have been on the computer every single night; what is needed is endless and it just keeps going.
“But finally I have got to the place where with less than two weeks to go, I now have everything I need.”
Safety equipment on Elaine’s boat means that in the event of any issues, support teams will be able to track her boat within a 20-metre radius in the ocean.
A mum of Newton primary pupils Guy and Harvey, Elaine is originally from Renfrew but has lived in Stirling area for 10 years and runs her own home improvement business. Her partner is paediatric oncology nurse Ali Hall.
She will be bidding farewell to her family when she leaves for Spain, and said that she has to put the emotions of leaving them at home out of her head come race time.
“I’ll have to get the boat ready when I arrive, and being a solo rower, I need to make sure I meet and speak to all the other teams so we can help each other.”
Superfit Elaine made her reputation in cycling, winning the inaugural Woman’s Scottish Mountain Bike Cross Country series in the early 1980s.
She gained a place in the British team in the European Adidas Challenge in 1993 and has since then completed solo unsupported bicycle tours across Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina.
However this is arguably her biggest challenge yet, and she has spent endless hours in the gym and getting acquainted with her boat.
“I have spent many weekends out on the water, but now I’ve had my last training session in the boat and saw her off. It is mainly about keeping myself well now. This is the time of year when bugs go about, so I’m taking lots of echinacea to hopefully stave them off and stay fit.”
The race starts on December 6, with Elaine hoping to arrive at the other side of the world in January.
To donate to her challenge, and to keep up to date with her progress visit www.eh-oceanrow.com