Former heptathlete and Olympian Rebecca Wardell (NZL) recently arrived in New Zealand after 10 months crossing the world on her bike.
Leaving the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland – where she worked as Senior Games Planning and Co-ordination Manager for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – she cycled 20,000km, crossed 19 countries and climbed the equivalent of 11 Mount Everests to get back to her native New Zealand.
More than just a personal challenge, Wardell’s trip, dubbed The Long Way Home, has raised funds for the Forward Foundation charity which encourages high school girls to get involved in sport and develop leaderships skills.
As a heptathlete, Wardell, who competed at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, had to master 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200m, long jump, javelin and 800m. She never competed on a bike but quickly became accustomed to spending most of her day in the saddle.
“I’d cycled a bit for recreation and done a few casual events. That’s all. It’s an incredible way to see the world and connect with people. I’m just not a fan of large hills with a heavy load or head winds!
“People found us very approachable on the bike because of the speed we were travelling. And I think we seemed vulnerable which mean people were more like to reach out and help us.”
The “us” refers to her travelling partners and fellow Kiwis and IOC colleagues, rowers Emma Twigg and Sarah van Ballekom. Leaving Lausanne with Wardell, the rowers were never going to go the full distance – Twigg returned earlier to New Zealand to prepare her qualification bid for her fourth Olympic Games and van Ballekom needed to return to Switzerland for work.
Wardell, 41, was joined for parts of her journey through Europe, Central and South East Asia by friends and family. She also travelled significant distances alone. In most countries she met up with other Olympians thanks to her IOC connections.
“Meeting local people, crossing borders – in particular entering China which was a huge milestone –, cycling through Tajikistan and following the river border with Afghanistan…” the heptathlete has trouble pinpointing the highlights of her trip.
As can be expected, it was not plain sailing the whole way. Low points included a crash in Iran – which she feared was going to bring a premature end to her trip -, sleeping in highway drains and pushing her bike through mud in China, through sand in Tajikistan. She encountered temperatures of 40 degrees in Turkmenistan, minus 11 in China. She climbed passes at 4655m, she slept in bus shelters, resorted to a shepherd’s hut in “no man’s land” between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan when it was too cold to pitch a tent.
There is no doubt that her background as an Elite athlete helped her through the bad days: “It gave me the mental strength to push through the tough moments with the end goal in mind, knowing it was all part of the journey and would only make the good moments seem even better!”
She was “blown away” by the hospitality in every country she visited, regularly receiving invitations to stay in locals’ homes. In Turkey, one policeman had seen her journey on social media and called on his colleagues to provide a police escort that patiently tailed her at 6km/h up hills.
Safely arrived in New Zealand, Wardell’s journey is far from over. She is cycling the length of the country with the aim of reaching her parents’ home in Lake Hawea, in the South, for Easter. On her way she is visiting as many schools as possible and giving talks about the journey.
With several hundred kilometres still to cover in New Zealand, Wardell has already achieved her goal of raising $1 NZ per kilometre for the Kiwi charity Forward Foundation. She chose the charity with her cycling partners Twigg and van Ballekom, all of whom are huge advocates of sport’s ability to empower women.
“The Foundation really resonated with us because at high school, sport was a huge part of our lives. It was a big platform for helping us achieve success in life, be it sporting or career, because of the self confidence and skills we gained and the friends we made.”
👉 You can follow Rebecca Wardell's adventure on Instagram & Facebook.