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Annabelle Bond OBE Who conquered the seven summits, and is still the youngest and fastest woman still!Born in Singapore to British parents, by the age of three, Annabelle was living in Hong Kong. She was educated in the UK and spent her childhood commuting between England and Hong Kong. However, she loved Hong Kong and it was here that Annabelle began her long distance running and from that grew her passion and drive to push herself to extreme limits. Annabelle realised she excelled in tough conditions. And so her love for the outdoors began. Whilst in Hong Kong for four consecutive years she completed the gruelling MacLehose Trail, an understated name for the 103km mountain marathon which covers some 23,000ft of vertical in steam bath conditions.
Annabelle’s feats have helped raise £850,000 for the Eve Foundation – the charity for Ovarian Cancer. I talked to Annabelle about why she chose this career path: Annabelle – “I had been trying hard to break into a new career which allowed me to combine my love of travel and sports. Arriving back from filming a TV pilot on adventure travel to be greeted by an extremely excited mother who told me she had arranged for me to climb Mount Everest.... I went into shock!! But later found out the Chilean banker who was backing the trip shared a mutual goal in wanting to climb the Seven Summits (the highest peak on each continent). And so my adventure began! My training with the Chilean team started in the summer of 2003 – it was gruelling and they wouldn’t take any nonsense, if I was going to make this trip I had to be a valuable member of that team”. Q – The first of the summits you climbed was Everest - people have died climbing this, weren’t your scared? Annabelle – “Yes, who wouldn’t be? A month prior to my climb I went to the doctor with something I thought was minor illness I found out that I had an ovarian tumour I had it removed and had to wait three days for the diagnosis, fortunately it turned out to be benign. I was one of the lucky ones but what about the thousands who aren’t so lucky I decided I needed to help raise money for the Eve Foundation. I was determined to climb Everest no matter what and so I did. You have to stay focused and think positively.” Q – Who has supported you? Annabelle – “Without question my parents. They are 100% behind me – I am very lucky. And of course my sponsors without them what I’ve achieved wouldn’t be possible.” Q – Do you believe in luck? Annabelle – “I think it’s a combination of two things – being physically strong with a bit of luck thrown in.” Q - What are your ambitions? Annabelle – “Promoting sports, the outdoor life, global warming and protecting the environment – in fact in 2006 I took a trip to the North Pole with Prince Albert to help raise awareness for Global Warming. I spent 10 days in Sweden training for it. But I love adventure and travel.” Q - Who would you say your role models are? Annabelle – “I admire strong women like Madonna, Jordan and Alison Hargreaves (British mountaineer).” Q – You’ve had some amazing Accolades; you received an OBE in 2006, an honorary Zulu Princess – what next? Annabelle – “I’m a single mother and so my concentration at the moment is my daughter Isabelle – she is my passion!” For more in information on Annabelle - go to www.annabellebond.com If you would like to donate to the Eve Appeal – please click here - in fact its ovarian cancer awareness month! www.ovarian.org.uk/index.asp In the next coming months I will be featuring ovarian cancer and what we as women need to look out for…. |
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