Saying Yes to Adventure   19 Nov 2015

Saying Yes to Adventure

CHRISTCHURCH, Nov. 19, 2015 – Running 260km across the Sahara Desert, spending nights sleeping on a small strip of carpet, watching your feet turn into something that resembles sausage meat and doing your number twos into a plastic bag, is not what most people would consider fun. However, for Cantabrian and adventure fanatic Hollie Woodhouse, this is her idea of a good time.

In April of this year, Hollie was part of a team of five who ran the ‘Marathon des Sables’ in Morocco. The ultramarathon is a gruelling 260km race through the Sahara Desert. Endless sandy wasteland, ever-present scorpions, no privacy or creature comforts, all adds to the experience.

“If you had told me a few years ago that I would be running marathons on my weekends for fun, I would have fallen off my chair laughing” Hollie explains. Despite always having been into sport, it was not until having a crack at New Zealand’s most famous multisport event, the Coast to Coast, that a healthy pastime became a passion. “I was hooked, the emotion, comradery and adventure was unlike anything I had experienced before”.

What sets Hollie apart from other Lycra clad, energy gel-slurping adventure junkies is that almost everything she does is in the name of charity. Hollie’s twin sister and brother-in-law live and work on Borana Conservancy in Kenya, and it was through them she began to hear first-hand accounts of the plight of Elephant and Rhino in the area. It is well known that these animals are illegally and mercilessly hunted by poachers for their valuable ivory and horn. For the likes of the Black Rhino, poaching has all but ensured their extinction.

However, little is known about the Kenyan Rangers who risk their lives on a daily basis to protect these animals. They spend their days and nights deep in the grassy plains, tracking and monitoring individual animals and endeavouring to protect them against heavily armed and dangerous poachers. It is for this reason that Hollie became involved in forming the Running for Rangers charity. “In the lead up to the Marathon des Sables, our team received incredible support. We managed to raise $115,000 USD ($169,841NZD) for the Rangers”, Hollie explains.

Never one to do anything by halves, Hollie fused her passion for adventure and a love of design, to find another way to raise funds for Running for Rangers. In March of this year, Hollie released the first volume of her magazine Say Yes to Adventure. Hollie has created a high-quality magazine to showcase ordinary people doing extraordinary things. “Adventure can mean so many things; from the extreme of traveling the world, to taking a different route on the way home from work” Hollie says. “What I have created is a place to capture the emotion that goes with experiencing these adventures, whatever or wherever they may be”. Proceeds from the magazine feed back into the Running for Rangers charity and the continued support of their work on the plains of Kenya.

Since the release of the first two volumes of Say Yes to Adventure, Hollie has been overwhelmed by the response from people. “There are so many people who care deeply about not only the conservation of animals in Kenya but also the environments in which they love to explore. I have been inundated with support, stories and spectacular images, many of which will feature in future volumes of the magazine” says Hollie.

Balancing a day job, charity work, a fledgling adventure magazine and a pretty hectic training regime; you would be forgiven for thinking that Hollie was our very own Kiwi superwomen. However Hollie is quick to deflect any praise, “I am very lucky that I can do what I love in support of a cause that I am passionate about. It is also great motivation to keep going when you find yourself in those moments when your legs are burning and your lungs feel like they might explode!”.

So what is next on the adventure calendar? After returning from the Ultramarathon in Morocco, Hollie almost immediately signed up for the next challenge; a 240km race through the Amazon Jungle of Peru. “99% humidity, scorpions the size of cats and plant species that can leave you with third degree burns… what’s not to love?” Hollie asks with a smile. “If truth be told, I am a bit terrified but that is all a part of the adventure”.

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