On Sunday, Panton Hill CFA volunteer Bronwyn Kealy sets off on her motorcycle, intent on becoming the youngest woman to ride around the world.
Having completed her Year 12 exams and with three months before starting at University, Bron will ride to Brisbane, through North and South America, Africa and Asia before returning home via Perth and the Nullarbor.
Along the way she will be raising awareness for the Big Cats Initiative, which seeks to protect Big Cats in the wild from retaliatory killings by farmers, protect livestock from Big Cats and provide secondary school scholarships to children from affected areas in Africa and Asia.
The record attempt, sanctioned by Guinness World Records, will require a gruelling distance to be covered every day and requires extensive record-keeping: she must cover 29,000km by road, cross five continents and travel through two antipodean points. In doing so, she will also cross four significant deserts, three mountain ranges and 21 countries.
Besides being a proud member of the Panton Hill Rural Brigade, Bron holds an Australian Land Speed record, is a member of Mensa and is the current Lions Victorian Youth of the Year Quest Public Speaker.
She has established a crowdfunding campaign at http://igg.me/at/theworldroar and CFA members are invited to watch a video and read more about her journey there.
Author: Steve Kealy