The Driving Force behind the Wight Challenge
Growing up as a teenager on the Isle of Wight, Joanna Laird couldn't wait to experience more of the outside world.
After an idyllic, but rather insular childhood, she wanted to cast her net wide and embark on some of life's adventures.
Over the ensuing two decades she rose to numerous challenges on land and sea which would take her to far-flung corners of the globe. Now as married mother-of-two Joanna Minchin, she has settled back into island life and is the driving force behind The Wight Challenge, which not only flies the flag in promoting the island but also raises tens of thousands of pounds for charity to boot.
Joanna who lives at Wellow is the organiser of the annual arduous test of physical stamina - now in its sixth year - which comprises a 20-mile mountain bike ride, a three-mile open canoe, and an eight-mile run. For the past five years the event has been held in aid of Dreams Come True, a charity which aims to make the dreams of terminally and seriously ill children become reality.
But this year, for the first time, the event is raising funds for Wessex Heartbeat, the regional charity which supports the work of the Wessex Cardiac Centre at Southampton General Hospital. It is hoped that the total will surpass the £13,435 which was raised in 2008. Registrations have already started coming in for this year's event on September 19 at Jersey Camp in Porchfield, as part of the Isle of Wight Council's Cycling Festival.
"There is always something to do surrounding the Wight Challenge, but I love the buzz of an event on the horizon and working towards it", said Joanna, who lives with her husband Robin, a product designer and their two children Harry (four) and Isabelle (two). "I love the planning, the build-up and on the day seeing it all come together. I also have a passion for welcoming people to the island and seeing them enjoy it, because it's a great place to visit."
Joanna, who relies on a small army of marshals, time-keepers, first-aiders and general helpers, acknowledges that the Wight Challenge also gives her a focus outside of being a full-time mum. She first moved to the island with her family when she was six and attended Shalfleet Primary School, West Wight Middle School and boarded at what is now Ryde School with Upper Chine.
"I then had an overwhelming desire to break away from the island. I did a secretarial course in Oxford and got offered a job in New York city, under the Mountbatten Internship programme which offers young professionals educational and business opportunities around the world. I jumped at it and ended up working in an English law firm and swopped the island's scenery for the Manhattan skyline."
Joanna returned from the U.S. in 1991 and together with her older brother Alexander, embarked on a 7,000 sponsored cycle ride from the Isle of Wight to Cape Town, South Africa, which raised £7,000 for the Save the Children Fund. The brother and sister team set off in September 1991 for the nine-months expedition which took them through such countries as France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and on to South Africa.
"I can still remember the magic of a Christmas Eve carol service in Manger Square in Bethlehem - it was a wonderful trip and we were young with no ties, no plans and no worries!" she recalls.
That epic cycle ride was to set the tone for Joanna's ability to rise to a challenge. In the years that followed she spent time working for the Oceans Youth Club (Trust), an adventure sail training charity; sailed from Brazil to South Africa in a boat more suited to high altitude expeditions to Antarctica; lived and crewed on a charter yacht in Zanzibar hitched a ride across Atlantic on a private yacht and sailed to Antarctica as cook on the 54ft sailing yacht Pelagic in January - April 1998 with her brother Hamish as skipper. " It was an experience that opened my eyes wide to a world that I'd only ever seen in pictures, and I still feel very privileged to have been", she said.
Joanna estimates that she has travelled more than 36,000 nautical miles - voyages which have inspired her to create the exciting, gruelling and quirky event that the Wight Challenge has become renowned for.
When she eventually returned to the Isle of Wight she worked alongside another of her brothers, Alexander, helping to put the finishing touches to the restoration of Partridge, a 1885 gentleman's racing yacht. Joanna then honed her secretarial skills and took an office job at a farm on the Island in November 1998. In June of the following year she found herself organising events for up to 120 people - including sailing days, a black-tie dinner and a charity cricket match when former Essex and England cricket captain Nassar Hussein visited Yarmouth with his team.
"That really kick-started the Wight Challenge - I discovered that I loved the buzz of organising events and started up my own business Wight Ventures in January 2000. Clients included companies such as BP and Kentucky Fried Chicken who sent their employees over to the island," she added.
She subsequently sold the events business, but has retained organising The Wight Challenge which started in 2004.
It has gone from strength to strength and now had space for 40 teams of three people to compete in. As well as boosting the coffers of the island's economy by way of the visitors who participate and spectate, it has also gained international notoriety in the past with a team of yacht brokers from Monaco and other entrants from Italy.
"I even had a telephone call from the Falklands", recalls Joanna. "I thought it was an April Fool when the voice said ‘I'm ringing from Port Stanley and I've just received your flier!" But it was an honest inquiry and a team of three soldiers come over during their leave and competed in 2005."
And does Joanna harbour secret ambitions to do The Wight Challenge herself?
"I'm far too busy on the day - but to be honest I can't run although I absolutely love cycling around the island.
For more information on The Wight Challenge go to www.heartbeat.co.uk/wight-challenge or www.designcatalyst.plus.com.
