Katrina Jacks

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

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.

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. She then attended Imperial College, London, graduating with a first class degree in chemical engineering.

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. 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.

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, she then trekked along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, 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), on May 16, 2010. Her body was returned to Wales for burial in late May 2010.