Allison Shreeve (born 5 February 1982) is an
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n
OlympicThe Olympic Games are a major international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in...
athlete who was the
FormulaFormula windsurfing is a class of race windsurfing boards that has developed over the last 15 years in order to facilitate high performance competition in light and moderate winds...
World
WindsurfingWindsurfing is a surface water sport using a windsurf board usually two to four meters long and powered by the effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a mast, wishbone boom and sail...
Champion in 2005.
In November 2005, Shreeve set a new world
speed sailingSpeed sailing is the art of sailing a craft as fast as possible over a predetermined route, and having its overall or peak speed recorded and accredited by a regulatory body. The term usually refers to sailing on water, even though sailing on land and ice is progressively faster because of the...
record (A class) at 27.7 Knots (51.3 km/h) at Saintes Maries de la Mer Speed Canal. She topped this with a record of 33.05 (61.2 km/h) knots at
FuerteventuraFuerteventura, a Spanish island, is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is situated at 28°20' north, 14°00' west...
in late July, 2006.
As an ambassador for the Life on the Edge Challenge
http://www.lifeontheedge.org.au, Allison announced her intention to windsurf across the Bass Strait - a body of water between the Australian states of Victoria and Tasmania.
Allison Shreeve (born 5 February 1982) is an
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n
OlympicThe Olympic Games are a major international event of summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes compete in a wide variety of events. The Games are currently held every two years, with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in...
athlete who was the
FormulaFormula windsurfing is a class of race windsurfing boards that has developed over the last 15 years in order to facilitate high performance competition in light and moderate winds...
World
WindsurfingWindsurfing is a surface water sport using a windsurf board usually two to four meters long and powered by the effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a mast, wishbone boom and sail...
Champion in 2005.
In November 2005, Shreeve set a new world
speed sailingSpeed sailing is the art of sailing a craft as fast as possible over a predetermined route, and having its overall or peak speed recorded and accredited by a regulatory body. The term usually refers to sailing on water, even though sailing on land and ice is progressively faster because of the...
record (A class) at 27.7 Knots (51.3 km/h) at Saintes Maries de la Mer Speed Canal. She topped this with a record of 33.05 (61.2 km/h) knots at
FuerteventuraFuerteventura, a Spanish island, is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. It is situated at 28°20' north, 14°00' west...
in late July, 2006.
Bass Strait Crossing - March 2009
As an ambassador for the Life on the Edge Challenge
http://www.lifeontheedge.org.au, Allison announced her intention to windsurf across the Bass Strait - a body of water between the Australian states of Victoria and Tasmania. The crossing would require her to cover approximately 250km of ocean and she had hoped to complete the journey in 8-10 hours (this would have been a new record time). The crossing was attempted on Thursday 26th March 2009. Allison faced winds between 30 and 35 knots for 6 hours straight, often in unfavorable directions. After a total of 9 hours and 125km, Allison was forced to abandon the attempt due to severe cramps and the onset of hypothermia.
History
In her younger years, Allison was home schooled and grew up in a rural property. After finishing high school at Port Macquarie High, she was accepted into Sydney University to study
Civil and Structural EngineeringCivil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works such as bridges, roads, canals, dams and buildings...
, which had her move back to Sydney.
In 1998, during Port Macquarie High School's summer program, Allison chose windsurfing, despite she had a promising and successful future in track and field athletics after securing many titles and records at local zone, regional, and state levels. Mark Jordan saw potential in Shreeve and coached her for free, helping her go on to win the Australian Youth Champion title several times.
Media attention
In the last few years, Allison Shreeve attracted reasonable attention for her success in the sport. Many newspapers came out emphathizing with her, because, as many claimed, she had the looks, she had the medals to prove it, and she had the personality, yet she was not able to find a financial sponsor. Because of a lack of sponsor, she had been forced to sleep in her car. An underlying reason is that
windsurfingWindsurfing is a surface water sport using a windsurf board usually two to four meters long and powered by the effect of the wind on a sail. The rig is connected to the board by a free-rotating universal joint and comprises a mast, wishbone boom and sail...
is very small in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
.
In 2006, Allison Shreeve was featured on the
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
TV
channelA television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and 59.75 MHz...
NickelodeonNickelodeon is an American cable television channel owned by Viacom. Since the mid-1990s and early 2000s Nickelodoen as a brand has expanded into other territories including Europe, the Middle-East, Russia and Asia.It is often referred to by its shortened name, Nick, a practice that dates back to...
showcasing her gear and telling the audience of what windsurfing is like. Allison Shreeve was featured in
Who magazineWho is a celebrity news and entertainment weekly magazine published in Australia by Pacific Magazines. It was launched as a sister magazine to the United States weekly People, with a name change facilitated because of an existing Australian lad's mag of the same nameAs of 2006, Who had a...
, which reported her eating habits and how she keeps fit. She told Who that she had a 50-minute run, injury-prevention gym exercises, and 500 sit-ups per day. As for diet, she says she chooses salads, steak, vegetables, and occasional chocolate. She also advised people not to eat after 7PM - three hours before you go to bed. She was featured in a full-length interview on
Life FMLife FM is a New Zealand Christian RBG-owned radio network broadcasting popular contemporary Christian music across New Zealand and online with MMS. It was launched as a secular alternative rock station in 1994, as an alternative Christian rock network in 1997 and as a Christian top 40 station in...
. Initially however, because she was low profiled, she was ignored. She was sent many support messages through Christian30 and was later replayed on radio because people wanted to get to know her as she became famous.
2006
- Australian Female Sailor of the Year
- 1st Lady and 5th overall, Australian National Formula
Formula windsurfing is a class of race windsurfing boards that has developed over the last 15 years in order to facilitate high performance competition in light and moderate winds...
Championships (Elwood, Melbourne)
- 1st Sail Melbourne warm up RS:X Regatta (Parkdale, Melbourne)
- 1st RS:X oceanic Championships (Sandringham, Melbourne)
- 2nd Sail Melbourne RS:X (Sandringham, Melbourne)
- 1st FW Oceanic Championships (South West Rocks)
- 1st South American RS:X Championships (Puerto madryn, Argentina)
- 1st South American Formula Championships (Puerto madryn, Argentina)
- 1st South American Slalom Championships (Puerto Madryn, Argentina)
- 1st Formula Europeans Championships (Portimao, Portugal)
- 21st Holland Regetta RS:X (Medemblik, Holland)
- 13th RS:X Europeans (Cesme, Turkey)
- 5th Kiel week RS:X (Kiel, Germany)
2005
- 1st NSW Formula State Championships (Dolls Point, Sydney)
- 1st Sail Melbourne VIC Formula State Championships (Elwood, Melrbouen)
- 1st Oceanics Championships (Elwood, Melbourne)
- 1st Australian Formula National Championships (Elwood, Melbourne)
- 1st Mistral National Championships (St George, Sydney)
- 1st Lady and 13th overall DWC Dranske/Rugen (Slalom/Fmrula)
- 1st Lady and 23rd overall DWC Norderney (Slalom/Formula)
- 1st Formula European Championships (Rhodes, Greece)
- 1st Slalom European hampionships (Cesme, Turkey)
- 1st ISA Speed Grand Prix - Production board (Sotavento, Fuerteventura)
- 4th ISA Speed Grand Prix (Sotavento, Fuerteventura)
- 3rd IFCA World Slalom Championships (Sotavento, Fuerteventura)
- 1st Silvaplana Euro Cup (Silvaplana, Switzerland)
- 1st Formula World Championships (Elwood, Melbourne)
Professional status
- Member of Australian National Olympic Squad
- Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder 2004-06
- New South Wales Institute of Sport Scholarship holder 1998-2005
- Member of the ISAF (international Sailing Federation) testing team to choose the new board for the 2008 Olympics
- Part of the international racing and development teams for Neil Pryde, F2, Deboichet
Sporting achievemenets
- Ranked number 1 in the World in Formula Windsurfing
- Formula Windsurfing WOrld Champion 2005
- New World Speed Record (A Class) of 27.7 knots
- Ranked number 1 in Olympic and Formula class in Australia
- Olympic RS-X class Oceanic Champion 2006
- Formula and Slalom class Oceanic and Formula champion 2005
- Australian National Formula Champion 2005 and 2006
External links