2018 ADVENTURE QUEEN GRANT FINALISTS

Feb 16, 2019 | Adventure Queen Grant

In 2017, we were over the moon to be able to launch the Adventure Queen Grant – our little way of supporting one of our community to set out on their first big adventure. And we were doubly delighted to be able to be bringing it again last year.

In case you’re new to the Adventure Queen community, here’s a bit more about what the Grant is all about.

THE ADVENTURE QUEEN GRANT

The Adventure Queen Grant is for someone heading off on their first big, mostly human powered adventure, that’s at least a couple of months long. The lucky winner receives the following goodies:

  • £1,000 worth of Arc’teryx kitarc teryx
  • Advice from Arc’teryx Piccadilly on the best equipment for your adventure
  • £1,000 cash to spend on your adventure (flights, kit, bottomless supply of pasta to fuel your adventure etc)
  • Mentoring from our brilliant Adventure Queen Grant panel of judges to help plan your adventure

 

THE 2018 ADVENTURE QUEEN GRANT

We had over 100 applications for the 2018 Adventure Queen Grant (a MASSIVE thank you to those that applied!). It was incredibly tough to whittle the almost 100 applications down to our final four, before whittling it down to our winner.

Below are our finalists and what they’ve got planned for 2019 so grab a cuppa and be inspired for some of your own adventure planning, no matter how big or small.

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Debs Hext – Crafting up a five week adventure exploring Norway’s Lofoten Islands by kick scooter and packraft, this was definitely one of our more unique journey ideas! Debs had us captured with her writing style and hopes of spreading the Adventure Queen quest by inspiring the girls at her primary school to dream big themselves.

Esme Keeley – To quote directly from Esme’s application, a “hair-brained coast-to-coast across Vancouver Island via mountains, rivers and lakes”. Our youngest applicant, Esme is just 18, but we all swooned over her sense of adventure and planning already done to get the trip underway. We get a feeling she’s going to go far (literally!).

Nienke Oostre – A badass team setting out to Mountain Bike across Nepals Great Himalaya Trail in one go. This is no mean feat, with altitudes reaching well over 5000m, and lots of extreme wilderness in between.  We loved Nienke’s message that you don’t have to be a super athlete to reach extreme goals, and the idea of sharing her adventure with friends.

THE 2018 ADVENTURE QUEEN GRANT WINNER

Drum roll please….

We are thrilled to announce that this lovely lady, Vanessa Richards, is the winner of the 2018 Adventure Queen Grant. She will be getting her hands on £1,000 cash and £1,000 of brand new kit, courtesy of the wonderful folk at Arc’teryx Piccadilly,to help kick start her 2019 adventure.

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We loved Vanessa’s trip idea, to take on some of the impossible-to-pronnounce hiking trails of the Nordkalottruta. 800km or so of wild wandering across the northern-most regions of Norway, Sweden and Finland sounds like one heck of an adventure!

BUT what captured us even more was her hilarious storytelling, openess in sharing her motivations and hopes for the trip, and her desire to help inspire others in the community to get on their own adventures of whatever size.

Follow Vanessa’s plans and adventure here. Plus we’ll be sharing on Instagram and the blog, so stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled!

THE 2019 ADVENTURE QUEEN GRANT

If you missed out on applying for the 2018 Adventure Queen Grant, or applied and didn’t get through, don’t let that deter you! We’ll be launching the 2019 Adventure Queen Grant later this year, for the next female badass looking to kick start her first big adventure in 2020. So start brainstorming (think mostly human-powered, self-supported and minimum of a couple of months) and keep your eyes peeled for more information!

And we’ll share other grants that are available to apply for, in case the Adventure Queen Grant isn’t quite right for you (maybe you’ve already been on your first big adventure or you can’t go away for as long as a few months).

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