The Ridiculously Human Podcast RHP#017. Lizanne Van Vuuren, Coxless Crew Pacific Ocean Rower and Osteopath
Business Woman. World Record Holder. Osteopath. English Rose. South African Lioness. Role Model. Charmer. Coxless Crew Member. Lady Leader.
Imagine, one night you are watching a documentary on Netflix and are so inspired by it and then a few weeks later you are actually speaking to a person from that documentary on a Podcast you host…..?! The world we live in these days and our access to people is quite amazing!
The simple fact that nobody had ever accomplished what these girls were embarking on doing, highlights how extreme the task at hand was. Four girls, attempting an 8,446 mile row from San Francisco, United States to Cairns, Australia, across the Pacific Ocean. Just the idea of that is mind blowing in itself!
Our guest this week, Lizanne, was born in a small town, Zeerust, South Africa, which straddles the border of Botswana. Born in a traditional Afrikaans family, she was 9 years old when her parents decided to move to the UK. Lizanne and her brothers trotted along in excitement and anticipation of the adventure ahead.
Her parents genetically passed down musical skills and an interest in medicine, but more importantly, they made her feel that anything in the world was possible and encouraged her to do anything she wanted.
After training in London to become an Osteopath, life took her back on a journey to her native South Africa. After completing her first half-ironman race, she realised that you can literally do anything you want with the right mindset, which was kind of the trajectory she needed.
Her real adventure, of epic proportions, began in a serendipitous sort of way by replying to a tweet on Twitter. Roll forward a few months and she was selected and in training to be part of the team, of an expedition which had been 3.5 years in the making.
In the Podcast we find out about what makes her tick as an individual, attempting to gain 12kg’s of weight in 3 months, sunrises on the ocean, listening to pods of whales, 2 hour sleep rotations, food rationing, being sea sick for 97 days straight and dealing with 30 foot waves.
These ‘ordinary’ women managed to finish a completely ‘unordinary’ task. You can only really be in awe of them for their accomplishments.
Lizanne shares her part of the story so charmingly and graciously with us. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.
Let’s find out what it means for Lizanne Van Vuuren to be Ridiculously Human.
Your fellow beings
Craig and Gareth
SHOW NOTES
Background, Context & Reference
- Connect with Lizanne: Website | Instagram | FaceBook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Email |
- Coxless Crew Website
- Coxless Crew Donations
- Losing Sight of Shore - Netflix Documentary
- Lizanne’s Blog from the trip
- Hashtag #mypacific
Other relevant points discussed
- Cape Town, water crisis
- Boreholes
- Desalinator
- Rising salt levels in water
- Doris, their boat across the Pacific
- Rustenburg, South Africa
- Zeerust, South Africa
- Botswana
- Cape Town
- Stellenbosch University
- Apartheid
- Osteopath
- Chiropractor
- Mafikeng, South Africa
- Ted Talk by Meg Jay - Why 30 is not the new 20
- East London, Half-Ironman
- Penpals
- Newbury, Berkshire
- Farnborough, UK
- Brecon Beacon, Wales
- Hawaii, USA
- Samoa, Samoa
- Cairns, Australia
- Psychometric Tests
- Mindfulness
- Visualisations
- Hot Buttons
- 90 minutes sleep cycles
- Hawaii yacht club
- Virgin Active, Greenpoint
- Aladdin, Movie
- Lion King, Movie
- Sound of Music, Movie
- Les Mis, Movie
- 702 Radio, South Africa
People Discussed
- Chrissie Wellington, Triathlete
- Laura Penhaul, Coxless Crew Team Leader
- Emma Mitchell, Coxless Crew Team Member
- Natalia Cohen, Coxless Crew Team Member
- Isabel Burnham, Coxless Crew Team Member
- Meg Dyos, Coxless Crew Team Member
- Keith Goddard, Team Sports Psychologist
- James Lawrence, Ironman Cowboy - 50 Ironman races, in 50 days, in 50 States
- Tony Humphreys, Logistics Manager
- Professor Tim Noakes
- Book - The Real Meal Revolution by Tim Noakes
- Peter van Kets - Someone who rowed part of the Pacific
Music By
- The Bambuseae Rhythm Section - Check them out here
Right Hook Request
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