Outspoken - Sarah Swallow

S1 EP06 - I first met Sarah a little over a year back after I had been commissioned to make a film about her event the Ruta Del Jefe. Named after the famous jaguar that inhabited the area the event takes place in, namely the Sky Islands of the southern Arizona borderlands. It is one of the most biodiverse regions in the USA, and it is facing numerous environmental and humanitarian issues, from the threat of mineral extraction to the unnecessary deaths of migrants crossing the border. The goal of the event is to raise awareness for the region, and in the lead up to the inaugural event I spent several days interviewing a series of experts from a range of different organisations, each working to protect an element in the region. With a route that can only be described as breathtaking the event highlighted for me the ability of sport to showcase a region under threat, as well as bring together all of those with an interest in protecting the area under one roof to further educate and inform the racing participants. It was that event that really helped focused the mission of thereabouts as that of using sport to help people understand the world. This is only one bow in the plethora of Sarah Swallow and so we sat down with her to better understand how she came to view the bike in the way that she does and how she plans to use it to keep fighting for the issues she cares about. You Can watch the Ruta Del Jefe film here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnJHFxFjMrc Watch our other films, read our stories and much more over at www.thereabouts.co Music is from Outskirts written and produced by Builders Tea @builders_tea_ Instagram: @hereorthereabouts