CLEVELAND — Katie Spotz is from Mentor, but her work takes her all over the world. That has been by foot, by bicycle, by swimming, and of course, by boat. Spotz is an endurance athlete who has pushed her body to the limit time and time again, all for a good cause, and her next challenge is her biggest yet.
Spotz first made history 16 years ago when she became the youngest woman to ever row across the Atlantic Ocean solo. She was 22 at the time, spending 70 days at sea on a small rowboat, traveling unassisted from Senegal to French Guiana.
Before that, Spotz became the first person to swim the entire 325-mile length of the Alleghany River. She's gone on to accomplish feats that include setting a Guinness World Record by running 11 ultramarathons (races longer than a standard marathon of 26.2 miles) in 11 days across Ohio, and winning a nonstop 200-mile ultramarathon.
A dedicated athlete and U.S. Coast Guard veteran, Spotz doesn't stray from a challenge. But her tests of endurance aren't simply for her to add her name to record books. When Spotz sets out on a challenge, it's with purpose.
"To date, over 50,000 people have gained access to clean water all around the world through these endurance challenges and the goal for this upcoming challenge is to help 100,000 people in Fiji gain access to clean water. What's really exciting about that is that if—when—we reach that target, it will mean that we'll reach a point where everyone [in Fuji] has clean water, so it is a humanitarian first as well," Spotz said.
Spotz is not only an endurance athlete but a clean water activist.
Her challenges include fundraising efforts that have helped nearly 300 projects and impacted people in 19 countries.
The goal Spotz mentioned is next, will come if she can do something no other American woman has done before.
"In December, I will be setting off from Lima, Peru to Papua New Guinea to row across the Pacific Ocean. So it's a 10,000-mile row, no follow boat, completely unassisted, unsupported, nonstop," Spotz said, smiling with excitement.
You read all of the right. A 10,000-mile solo row across the width of the Pacific Ocean.
Spotz spends hours a day at The Foundry, a rowing club in downtown Cleveland, training on the simulators.
She's working on her nutrition, finding lightweight, high-calorie items to pack in the top-of-the-line boat currently being built for her journey.
Her food and clothes, medical gear, and every other item she must have prepared for her eight-month trek have to fit on the lightweight but extremely durable boat. There's no one there to hand her something she forgot, something she's run out of.
Spotz will be in her boat, which includes a small cabin overhead where she'll sleep or shelter when needed, by herself for two-thirds of a year.
She won't have a follow boat, and her only way to achieve any assistance is an emergency beacon to flag near ships or the Coast Guard if she isn't able to go on.
"I think the Atlantic taught me a lot that I will definitely bring with me on the Pacific. No matter how hard, no matter how overwhelming something is, it is temporary. It's really accepting challenges rather than fighting them," Spotz said.
Now, Spotz doesn't anticipate smooth sailing—or rowing, rather—for the entire journey. She's very aware of the challenges ahead.
"The ocean is the ocean and it will probably present a lot of challenges. I probably will have 40-foot waves. There will be times where there's just buckets of water on my head all the time. I probably will have salt sores and all of these things," Spotz said. "More than anything, I think this will be a real mental challenge. There is a very big difference between two or three months and [eight] months at sea, so I'm very curious to see how I hold up and what challenges I might face psychologically just all that time alone."
Spotz is planning to take some normalcy with her, even finding a way to pack pizza. Now, that pizza does include an MRE tortilla base, tomato sauce and a shelf-stable cheese packet, but it will be pizza nonetheless.
"I found a way," Spotz said, grinning. "I will have pizza and sushi out there."
If there's room, she might even bring her red light therapy mask.
Spotz's life in a few short months will be the ocean. Leaving her boat will only mean jumping into the sea to scrape barnacles off the bottom. It's a massive test of strength, both physical and mental.
But the journey, for Spotz, comes with even more rewards.
She experienced that 16 years ago in the Atlantic Ocean.
"Sometimes when I was feeling a little bit low or unmotivated, pods of dolphins would show up, it seemed like right when I needed it," Spotz said."I saw sharks, fish, sea turtles."
The awe-inspiring sights of nature are something Spotz is looking forward to.
But the biggest motivator of all isn't seeing nature or making history—for Spotz, it's making life better for others.
"Yes, it's hard, but there's a lot of joy, there's a lot of purpose and gratitude to just be able to do it at all," Spotz said. "It's a privilege to be able to spend eight months on a boat rowing for clean water."
Spotz is currently accepting donations and sponsors for her endurance journey.
There are open donations, donations of $10 a mile, and links to donate directly to clean water projects. To learn more about Spotz or supporting the Mentor native, click here.
