Honorary graduates 2018

Laura Penhaul (LLD)

Monday 23 July 2018 1:15pm

Laura Penhaul is a 35 year old Cornish woman, who in 2015-16 set two world records when she led the first all-female crew to row across the Pacific Ocean. After four years in preparation, they set off from San Francisco in April 2015, rowed 9,000nm and after nine months arrived in Cairns, Australia in January 2016.

Laura worked in elite sport for over 12 years having lead physiotherapy support to different teams through their cycles for Rio 2016, London 2012 and Vancouver 2010.

Currently she is working with the British Sailing Team in Weymouth, alongside setting up her own company: Adaptive Performance. In 2017 Adaptive Performance successfully helped Mark Beaumont to cycle around the world in under 80 days and is currently providing remote support to Nick Butters, who is running the world with a marathon in all 196 countries.

As a physiotherapist, Laura's drive to do the row gave her an insight in to what athletes go through when wanting to give up. Her method of practice is about building rapport and understanding; empowering them to get the best out of themselves beyond the injury.

With a personal interest in extreme endurance sports, Laura is completing a Masters in Research having collected data to monitor the immunity profile over prolonged endurance performance. She is an affiliate of the World Extreme Medicine Team based in Exeter. When she's not travelling the world with her work, she can be found in her home town of St Agnes, either in the RNLI crew boat or playing on the water.