User:Jungleshirl/sandbox

Irish born Shirley Thompson has a fascinating past. Born into a musical family in Belfast, her father discovered the likes of Van Morrison and Rory Gallagher and her father and uncle funded seminal sixties radio station Radio Caroline. But rather than being drawn into the music business Thompson spent most of her working life in private aviation. This saw her catering to the needs of a host of pop stars, celebrities, politicians, royalty and other high-net-worth individuals, though she also pilots planes herself for fun. A self-confessed heavy smoker, she decided to give up smoking in her early forties and took up running... swapping one addiction for another. Not content with simply taking part in marathons, Shirley got into ultra-distance running (100km plus), and in 2003 became the pioneer of Jungle races and set-up a new race that has become infamous for being one of the toughest on the ultra marathon circuit:  Jungle Marathon, an annual ordeal that takes place in the depths of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. This experience also led her into organising group trips into the area – known as much for its inaccessibility as its inhospitability – that offer participants a truly life-changing experience. The Amazon rainforest is the mother of all jungles; it is a unique, fragile and often hostile environment. One person who has used Thompson’s skills and is effusive about the experience is Ray Zahab, founder of not-for-profit organisation Impossible 2 Possible. They create experiential learning opportunities for young people through adventures and  link up with extraordinary people that can pull together amazing experiences in remote parts of the world, and they  combine each expedition with a relevant educational programme. The chance to not only visit the Brazilian Amazon, but also work with Shirley was almost a perfect opportunity for i2p's Amazon Expedition. Zahab took a team of around 20 people into the Jungle with Eventrate, a challenge that comes with its own unusual logistical issues. Shirley and her team are the specialists in this region, and have built up strong relationships with the people and communities. There are indigenous villages that welcome no one from outside their village, even government officials, and yet they work with and welcome Shirley Her  special relationship with these people means that with us people see things no one else does. They only work with local people. She is the only non-Brazilian, but she has lived there,  understands the people and speaks fluent Portuguese.

Giving back is a big part of her philosophy. Her company built an eco tourism base camp that houses 150 people and gifted it to the community of Itapuama to use as an eco tourism business to generate an income. They set up a project using the tourism students of the local university to help them develop this. They gave them a boat to give some of the more inaccessible communities access to the hospital boat in the rainy season. They organise kids events, started a rubbish recycling project, donate to education and built a school with I2P. They never stop giving.” Shirley lives in France these days. She has given herself a year of down time from Jungle adventures to compete in her own challenge for her 60th birthday, and is currently training to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, unsupported. She is going for two world records- the oldest woman ever to row any ocean solo and the first Irish woman. Shirley wants to prove that an ordinary woman can do something extraordinary and that age is merely a number.