Bridgend Soroptimists were delighted to welcome Cathie Rowe and Tricia Sail, winners of the BBC’s 2023 Race Across the World, as guest speakers to the February meeting.
Cathie and Tricia, who have been best friends since they were 15, gave a behind-the-scenes account of their adventure, highlighted the challenges they faced and explained how they overcame these to come out on top.
As one of five teams, the pair spent 51 days racing across Canada from west to east, travelling almost 10,000 miles. They had a budget of just £2,500 and were without smartphones, internet access or credit cards.
As Cathie explained, “The fact that we have a wonderful, wonderful friendship and can be completely ourselves with each other without worrying what the other one thinks, really helped us during the race. We’ve always done bonkers things and saw this as another adventure! We were determined to show that women of a certain age shouldn’t be written off and can still do crazy things like this.”
Cathie is company director of a local pharmacy in Bridgend and Tricia, who lives in Devon, was a bank clerk at the time of filming but now has her dream job working for the RNIB. (Royal National Institute for the Blind).
“I have a degenerative eye condition,” explains Tricia, “and at the time of filming I had about 10% sight in each eye – it’s since deteriorated even more! Cathie was literally my guide and so supportive. I wanted to prove to myself and other people that even if you have sight loss, you can still live and do all these things.”
The pair won the series, taking home £20,000. They have been inundated with interview requests and their following on social media has sky-rocketed.
Cathie says, “It was an incredible time, some of it indescribable. When we reached the end, turned over the book and found we’d won, neither of us had any words – we just screamed and blubbed at each other for the next 10 minutes!”
Since returning home they have walked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and are hoping to trek the Great Wall of China later this year.
Asked what they would say to someone considering going on a big adventure, Cathie and Tricia agreed – “Definitely, just do it!”