Rowan Brookes. A humble, adventurous, inspiring powerhouse of a woman.
Into the Wee Hours Podcast
English - September 19, 2021 07:00 - 1 hour - 46 MB - ★★★★ - 3 ratingsHealth & Fitness Sports adventure trail running bikepacking trail dogs camping everyday adventurer australia sunshine coast gubbi gubbi country hiking Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Introducing Dr Rowan Brookes. A humble, adventurous, inspiring powerhouse of a woman.
Sarah met Rowan while racing the Rapid Ascent, Run Larapinta stage race in 2018 (not 2019 as she says in the intro) and it was an absolute privilege for us to share this time in conversation with Rowan.
This one is for all of the mothers; the wives; the endurance athletes; the adventurers; the injured; the academics and scientists; the environmentally conscious and the “everyday” activists. These are just a few of the incredibly insightful themes we touch on with Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, based, Rowan Brookes.
Rowan shares with us how pivotal the outdoors has been in shaping her life since her first experience on an Outward Bound program as a teenager facing mental health challenges. She has since built an incredible adventure and athletic resume, covering ultra distance trail running; bikepacking; adventure racing and multiday hiking, amongst others. We mention a series of Rowan’s achievements, and in particular touch on the bikepacking route, the Victoria Divide 550 and her recent solo, self supported through hike of the 223km long Larapinta Trail. We also talk about Rowan's 250km Great South West Walk run and her initiative, Tread Lightly for Change. You can read more about this and see some beautiful images, on the We are Explorers site here.
In spite of not being long off the Larapinta Trail multiday adventure, this is also one for those of you navigating the challenges of a sustained COVID-19 lockdown. Rowan talks about navigating this new pandemic era and how she has adapted her training and her approach to planning adventures; all while being a mother of three; an academic; a leadership educator and changemaker.
Rowan was the 2016 Telstra Victorian Public Sector and Academia Award Winner and we reference her incredible acceptance speech, which you can view here, including a tale of her adrenaline fuelled (and not strictly legal) bridge jumping experiences in New Zealand!
You can find Rowan on Instagram @rowanbrookes
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