Race Across the World winner owns sight loss

Tricia Sail, a community connections coordinator at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), and her lifelong friend Cathie Rowe, were the first to cross the finish line on BBC One’s Race Across the World.  

They competed against five other pairs in a 16,000km journey across Canada, starting at Vancouver in the west and finishing at the eastern-most city of St John’s in Newfoundland. 

Sail told Optician she decided to apply after watching series one and two of the travel entertainment programme. 

‘I’ve always wanted to travel but have always been afraid of travelling with my eyesight. Cathie and I have known each other since we were kids and we’ve done quite a few marathons together, London to Brighton a couple of times, and we’ve walked Machu Picchu. We just thought, “Why not?”’