New Zealand Woman's Weekly
Story by Robyn Yousef
Photo by Frances Oliver
Polly Letofsky has dreamed of being the first woman to walk around the world since she was 12. Twenty-five years on, the American woman is finally realising her dream.
But she's not walking for herself. She is doing it in memory of her close friend from New Zealand, Sarah Alley, who died from leukaemia in 1997, aged just 27.
Sarah and Polly met in 1992, three years after Polly (37) travelled to New Zealand to take what became a four-year break from the Boston corporate scene. The pair later worked together for a travel centre in Queenstown.
Polly says she and Sarah were "joined at the hip" from the moment they met and she remembers Sarah as a "funny girl with a mind of her own".
"She had a great love for the land, embraced the Maori culture and history and bragged about the natural beauty."
Polly began walking from her hometown, Vail in Colorado, on 1 August. She spent four years training for the mammoth trek - which will cover four continents, 23 countries and 46,000 kilometres - and expects it to take three and a half years. Funds raised by the walk will go to the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund in the US, which supports breast cancer research and education.
Polly began the New Zealand leg in Cape Reinga on 8 November. She hopes to finish in Bluff in mid-February. Sarah had often talked about joining her for the New Zealand section. "Although Sarah has been gone far nearly two years now, something tells me she'll be with me every step of the Way", Polly says.
To Follow Polly's progress, visit the web sites:
http://www.breast.co.nz
http://www.globalwalk.org
