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10 Inspiring Women Adventurers To Follow

8 March 2024
10 Inspiring Women Adventurers To Follow

Representation is a key driver in encouraging diversity. That’s why we are sharing 10 inspiring women empowering others to connect with nature and get outdoors. They are role models, leaders and educators paving the way for others. 


@ani_went_outside

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A post shared by Ani (@ani_went_outside)

Ani is a disabled adventurer and outdoor disability advocate with Lupus, Fibromyalgia and HSD. After years of being afraid to leave the house, she started going outdoors in 2019. She’s the founder and writer for Outside Our Way where she meets individuals from across the outdoor sector and disability landscape to share their stories. The goal is to create an online space for disabled and chronically ill people to shape their own narratives of outdoors experiences.

Read our interview with Ani where she shares her experience as a disabled adventurer and outdoor disability advocate.


@lizzie_outside

Lizzie is an activist and adventurer whose journey really took off after beating cancer. She quit corporate life and launched the PlasticPatrol which has since become a global effort of like-minded people helping to clean up plastic pollution as well as highlight and educate on wider environmental issues. In 2016 she became the first person in history to paddleboard the length of England’s waterways, solo and unsupported to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the UK. This expedition was such a resounding success and in 2018 she took her efforts stateside paddling the length of the Hudson River in America to highlight the plastic issue globally.


@athenamellor

Athena is an adventurer whose words are inspired by the great outdoors. Whether climbing, hiking or camping her free spirit keeps her outside looking for another adventure or opportunity to spread her wings into the unfamiliar. She is the founder of Ramble Guides, a site that offers inspiration to encourage people to explore different areas of the UK. 


@laurakairos

Adventure Athlete, and Ellis Brigham ambassador, Laura loves exploring the outdoors but also the limits of her abilities. Working within the fitness industry as a personal trainer she is fascinated by pursuing endurance and how the human body copes under physical stress. Combining these passions has led her to many adventures including cycling the Wild Atlantic Way, the world’s longest uninterrupted coastal route and completing the North Sea Cycle route, a 6000km journey through 8 countries from Scotland to Norway.


@lauratryuk

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A post shared by Laura Try (@lauratryuk)

Living with the motto “Just try it” Laura is up for just about anything and is always on the hunt for new adventures. While she didn’t discover the joys of the outdoors and adventure until her 30s, nothing has held her back since. In 2017 she rowed 1,800miles around Great Britain in 56 days with a team she barely knew, an impressive feat considering she wasn’t a rower before signing up. She then went on to be part of an all-female team that rowed 3,000miles across the Atlantic, from Spain to the Caribbean in an incredible 43 days, as part of the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge. Laura loves to seek out local challenges too, recently logging the London Bridges Challenge - a 31mile walk traversing all 26 footbridges in London. 


@cal_major

Cal comes alive when she is around the ocean. But she soon became aware of the plastic that joined her every time she was in the water. She joined forces with Surfers Against Sewage and went on to start the Paddle Against Plastic campaign in which she has used paddleboarding expeditions to raise awareness whilst collecting abandoned plastic on the journey. She now holds the world record for the first and fastest person to stand-up paddleboard the length of mainland UK.


@Winniepoaty

Raised in the Republic of Congo, it was only when Winnie Poaty arrived in the Lake District in 2006 that she learned how to swim. Now she is an inspiring advocate of the mental health benefits cold water swimming brings. Winnie posts on Instagram about wild swimming and has had several TV appearances including introducing Strictly Come Dancing judges Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood to the water.


@annablackwell

Like many of us, Anna (also an Ellis Brigham ambassador) loves the great outdoors and is always itching for a new adventure to look forward to. This has led her to undertake some pretty incredible feats including tandem kayaking 4,000km from London to Romania with her friend Kate. After her return from that trip, planning started for her most recent expedition: a 1,000km solo trek across the Arctic and Northern Scandinavia, also known as The Green Ribbon.


@the_hillwalking_hijabi

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Zarah Mahmood’s first experience of exercise and the great outdoors was when two friends took her up Ben Lomon as a birthday present and as a way to de-stress from exams. Her first experience was a struggle, both from her fitness level and the stares she received being the only hijabi and brown person on the mountain. It was about a year later during a difficult time in her life she returned to the hills. This time she found the feeling was next to none. Since then she hasn’t looked back and now uses almost all her weekends for hillwalking and exploring Scotland. Hillwalking brings her both physical, mental health and spiritual health benefits. Lack of diversity and representation is a big issue with the outdoor industry. Zarah often speaks about the barriers to entry stopping ethnic minorities enjoying the outdoors and her experiences of discrimination she has faced. On her Instagram, she shares her hill walking adventures around Scotland.


@amira_thewanderlust

Amira started exploring the outdoors with her mum taking her on adventures when she was younger. This sparked a love for exploring and adventure which led Amira on a solo backpacking trip. Following a divorce, she connect with nature and the mountains. It became her healing space where she connected with God on a deeper level. After realising there wasn’t a space for Muslim women to connect with the outdoors she wanted to create a group for Muslim women to host retreats, expeditions and adventures. Five years later during lockdown she decided to launch The Wanderlust Women. She wanted to see more Muslim women in the mountains, and now we are here with hundreds of women who are adventuring and exploring. She is currently training to become a mountain leader and she is championing diversity in the outdoors.