She opens up on the training and preparation that has helped her prepare for the mammoth journey.
Bonnie Hancock might be known for her IronWoman competitions (she has completed in 9 Nutri-Grain series since the age of 17), but the goals she’s setting herself now look nearly impossible, even to the fittest among us.
Speaking on Body+Soul’s daily podcast Healthy-ish, Hancock says that she’s aiming to break the record for the fastest person to paddle around Australia on an ocean ski.
“It’s around 16,000 kilometres give or take. I’m hoping to do it in six months,” she tells host Felicity Harley on the Healthy-ish episode How do you train for a world record?
Like what you see? Sign up for our bodyandsoul.com.au newsletter for more stories like this.
“The current record is 10 months and 22 days, set by Freya Hoffmeister. She’s a German woman who went around in 2009, and she was on a very heavy kayak, 100 kilograms fully loaded.”
By going on an ocean ski, made of carbon fibre and weighing only nine kilos, and also having a catamaran alongside to carry her gear, Hancock hopes she’ll be able to paddle a little further each day than Hoffmeister. She’ll be splitting sleep and rest time between the shore and the catamaran, but there will be long distances up north where they will not be able to come back to land.
By now you’re likely pondering the first thing that comes to mind when you think about paddling around our country’s coastline – sharks.
“It’s funny. It’s sort of goes in my mind between the crocodiles and the sharks,” Hancock laughs. “I’ve never paddled in croc infested waters before and basically from the top end of W.A. right across to the top of Queensland, that’s really going to be the issue.”
To avoid the crocs her team will travel around 20 to 30 kilometres off the shore to avoid the river beds and estuaries. However, this will not alleviate the threat of sharks.
“I think a lot of that visualisation comes into it, and I’m trying to do a lot of research and reading on crocs and sharks and their patterns and, you know, just lowering the risk where we can,” she says.
“The mental part is going to be huge. I’ve actually looked at a lot of photos and videos of the marine life to try and desensitise to them, but it’s just going to be dealing with these risks as they come.”
To train for the expedition, Hancock has been focusing on changing her mindset from the races she’s used to, do the long-distance slog ahead of her.
“This is going to be about slow and long paddling,” she says. “So at the moment, I’m doing a mix of ocean swimming. Definitely a lot of gym work. I’m lucky my husband’s a strength and conditioning coach, he works in the AFL, so it’s all about getting strong. And then it’s just pre-hab. So injury prevention is a huge part and then running and obviously the ski paddling as well.”
Then there’s the actual distance to consider.
“You can’t go in and paddle 100 kilometres a day to train for it, because you’ll go in with injuries. So I’m trying for injury prevention and to get as strong as possible. I’ve done a couple of 35k/25k paddles, but it’s hard to train for this specific event.”
Like most athletes who undergo extreme challenges, it’s all about that belief in the final goal. This is also the case for Hancock.
“I think you absolutely have to have in your mind that there’s no doubt that you’ll get to the finish and leave your sweat, blood and tears out there. Whatever it takes,” she says.
“I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries on people like Ross Edgley, who swam around Great Britain, and different people who have done these endurance journeys, and the mental aspect is absolutely huge.”
Bonnie is raising money for suicide prevention charity, Gotcha4Life – sponsor her here. To follow Bonnie’s race, see her Instagram @bonniehancock
Any products featured in this article are selected by our editors, who don’t play favourites. If you buy something, we may get a cut of the sale. Learn more.
