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Camille du Gast, pioneering adventurer

22/9/2011

1 Comment

 
There are ground-breaking women, and then there's Camille du Gast.

Entirely in a class of her own, France's Camille du Gast was the first woman to compete seriously in motorsport, the first woman to make a parachute jump, an athlete in a range of disciplines, and an accomplished concert pianist.
Born in 1870, du Gast embodied the spirit of the pioneering Victorian adventurer. She claimed the parachute jump record in 1895, when French balloon crews were testing early versions. Du Gast managed to convince Senor Capazza to let her try one out, and she jumped from his hot air balloon at an elevation of 2,000 feet.

In 1901, Camille du Gast entered herself in the Paris-Berlin race. As the only woman competitor, and piloting an under-powered car, race organisers decreed that du Gast would start last. She finished the race  33rd out of more than 100, determined to better the result next time. By the time of the infamous 1903 Paris-Bordeaux race, du Gast was behind the wheel of the ultra-competitive De Deitrich.

In the world of motorsport, Camille du Gast is probably best known for her actions in the 1903 race, which was cut short by the French government following a number of accidents that killed and injured spectators and racers alike.

One of those injured was De Deitrich driver Phil Stead, who was pinned under his car when it rolled into a ditch. Du Gast passed the injured Stead, and stopped to offer assistance. Her racing mechanic was able to move the car enough for Du Gast to nurse the injured man until an ambulance arrived on the scene. According to the doctors who later treated Stead, Du Gast's first aid probably saved his life.

Once Stead was in the doctors' care, Du Gast rejoined the race. But her impressive efforts would bear no fruit, and when she arrived in Bordeaux, the French racer was told that the race had been cancelled by the government.

In the aftermath of the Paris-Bordeaux race, the last European capital-to-capital road race, the Benz factory team offered Camille du Gast a race seat on the strength of her performance. But in 1904 the French government barred women from competing in motorsport, and the offer came to nothing.

With motorsport closed to her, du Gast turned her hand to motorboat racing. In her first year of competition, Camille du Gast was caught up in a violent storm during the 1905 Alger-Toulon race. Six of the seven boats were put out of action by the storm, and du Gast was declared the winner as the competitor who had come closest to finishing.

But Camille du Gast was more than just a fierce competitor. She was also a woman who gave a lot of time to charity. In addition to serving as president for the French Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, du Gast helped provide health care to disadvantaged women and children, campaigned against bull-fighting, and worked with orphans and the poor until her death in 1942, undeterred from her good works by the German occupation of Paris.

Kate Walker is F1 Editor of girlracer and Assistant Editor of GP Week. Follow her on Twitter @F1Kate, or read more of her writing at www.f1katewalker.com.
1 Comment
Glen
1/10/2011 08:29:53 pm

I see your Camille du Gast and raise you one Nellie Bly:

First person to ever travel around the world in under 80 days (72 in fact)

Arguably one of the first ever investigative journalists she faked mental illness to get admitted to an asylum in order to write about the appalling conditions (1887)

To get the above job she had previously quit her reporting job after becoming bored with being forced to do reviews for theatre and arts events and, penniless for 4 months, talked her way into working for Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, the New York World.

Aged 21 she travelled of her own initiative to Mexico in order to report on the work conditions and repressive regime in government there at the time.

She later used her fame and increased status to continue her various writings and campaigning on issues of labour conditions, treatment of women in a variety of contexts along with the women's suffrage of which she was an active member.

She also became an industrialist through marriage and ran her steel works company for a great deal of time before once again finding herself bankrupt and writing.

Her final years were spent volunteering in orphanages and supporting local charities.

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