Katrina Jacks

Katrina Jacks (c. 1986 in Monmouth, Wales – 16 May 2010 in Lake Titicaca, Peru), was a Welsh rower and chemical engineering graduate.

Biography

Jacks was born in Monmouth, the second child and first daughter to General Practitioners Alasdair and Susanna. She had an older brother and a younger sister.[1]

Education

Educated at Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls and known there as Kay Jacks, she obtained straight A's at both GCSE and A Level.[1] She then attended Imperial College, London, graduating with a first class degree in chemical engineering.[2]

Competitive rowing

A talented sport woman, from her time as a schoolgirl Jacks was a competitive rower, entering both local and national level competitions. She won a number of gold medals at the National Schools Championships, and represented Great Britain at under-16 level for two consecutive years.[1] Jacks was part of the Welsh eight at the 2006 Commonwealth Rowing Championships at Strathclyde Park in Motherwell, Scotland, winning silver with the Welsh team.[3]

Death

Due to start a job with an engineering consultancy company in summer 2010, Jacks took a gap year in South America from 2009 to improve her Spanish. First volunteering at an orphanage in Ecuador,[4] she then trekked along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu,[1] before travelling to Lake Titicaca in Peru, the world's highest navigable lake at a height of 3,827 metres (12,556 ft). Jacks died of an apparent dose of altitude sickness, which affects human beings above 2,400 metres (7,900 ft),[5] on 16 May 2010. Her body was returned to Wales for burial in late May 2010.[1]

gollark: No, the correct approach is a retrocausality torus.
gollark: Interesting. Does it replicate? We could use this.
gollark: It's just a blank space. Are you being affected by cognitohazards?
gollark: Why is it the empty string?
gollark: I simply fed asm2bf 1213925TB of assembly, and it caused my computer to run out of memory.

References
  1. Jessica Best (28 May 2010). "Chepstow graduate dies on South America trip". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
  2. "Medal winning rower dies trekking in Peru". BBC Wales. 1 June 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
  3. Richard Smith (1 June 2010). "Commonwealth Games medallist Katrina Jacks killed by altitude while on holiday in Peru". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
  4. "Doctors daughter dies from 'altitude sickness' on gap year". Daily Telegraph. 1 June 2010. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
  5. Katie Cassidy (1 June 2010). "Medal-Winning Rower Dies On Peru Hike". Sky News. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
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