6 women rowed 8,000 km in the Pacific Ocean to support cancer patients

Yesterday, six women arrived on the island of Moorea in French Polynesia, after they took turns rowing in the waters of the Pacific Ocean for eighty days, starting from Peru, in an initiative in solidarity with cancer patients. The participants in this sports adventure, called “Cap Optimiset”, aim to help children with cancer and support the people who accompany them.

After they set off on the fourth of January from Lima, the participants in the initiative, who are five French women and a Spaniard, were received about eight thousand kilometers from the starting point, by hundreds of Polynesians, including some with cancer. They crossed the last few meters on a traditional six-seater boat, before reuniting with their families.

Alexandra Lux, one of the participants in rowing, told AFP that she feels “overwhelming joy and great satisfaction with the culmination of a project that has been in preparation for three years” by “meeting my daughter after an exceptional welcome.” Emmanuelle Pecheron, another participant in this initiative, explained that “it was really hard work for each of us to row four hours a day, but it was also a mental and human challenge living together on a small boat.”

All of the participants in this initiative are professional athletes, and one of them, world champion sea rescuer Stephanie Barnix, has defeated cancer four times.
The participants took turns, once every hour, day and night, to pass this distance by lying down or squatting, on a wide paddle board. This challenge, launched by the “Hope Team East” association, raises funds to equip care centers with sports equipment and accompany children with cancer. Every kilometer that the women crossed generated 600 euros, which allowed them to collect 80,000 euros, 40% of which will be used to fund the challenge and the other 60% to support solidarity initiatives.