In rowing solo and completely unaccompanied across the Atlantic, Dr Karen Weekes (54) - of Kinvara on Galway Bay - achieved so many “firsts” when she reached Barbados from the Canaries on Thursday, February 24th that it’s difficult to tabulate them all. Perhaps it’s better to record that, as an endurance challenge enthusiast and sports psychologist, she will have been more aware than most of the enormity of what she was undertaking. Her successful arrival in good physical and mental condition after 80 days bears testimony to her strength of character, and in so doing, she has further broadened our concept of what constitutes a successful sailor.
Dr Karen Weekes during pre-Transatlantic preparation
