Photo by Laura Watilo Blake
All of twenty-two years old, endurance athlete Katie Spotz will attempt to row across the Atlantic Ocean alone in order to raise funds for a clean water initiative. The Row For Water campaign for the Blue Planet Run Foundation will take Spotz from Dakar, Senegal, over 2,500 miles and anywhere from 70-100 days across the ocean to French Guiana on South America’s east coast.
Her quest, which will disembark Africa within a week, has already raised nearly $39,000 from corporate sponsors and individuals. The goal of $40,000 is almost achieve, and exceeds the initial goal that was sought of $30,000. Her websites explains further:
“Every
$30 I raise provides a lifetime of safe drinking water to another
person. The positive effect does not stop there. It helps kids stay in
school, allows women to start businesses, and keeps people out of
hospitals.“
The race itself is a huge personal challenge, and upon successful completion, Spotz will become one of the few Americans to accomplish this feat, and will be the youngest person ever to row across the Atlantic. She maintains, however, that the trek is about more than just records and personal notoriety.
The Blue Planet Run Foundation is a San Fransisco based nonprofit organization with a goal of providing “safe drinking water to 200 million people by 2027.” They do so by funding sustainable drinking water projects all around the world, and since 2004, they have implementing over 200 projects in 21 countries. With the money Spotz is raising, it is hoped clean water can be provided to over 1,000 people in need.
Spotz has previous attempted intense endurance tests, but nothing of this scope and investment. She has run marathons, cycled across the United States, and swam the Allegheny River, a journey of 352 miles. Of this adventure, Spotz says it’s not the physical or mental requirements that are most trying: it’s the fund-raising. “That’s the hardest part of the adventure,” Spotz said, in a New York Times article. “It basically requires a business of its own.”
To support Spotz and donate money, go to www.firstgiving.com/row
To learn more and get the latest updates of her adventure, visit www.rowforwater.com. Spotz will be updating her blog and twitter account during the journey. She has a lap top on board, among other things such as a desalinization machine, GPS, radios, and satellite phones. All the electrical equipment on board will be powered by solar panels. Her impressive Row for Water will begin just days from now.
