The Royal Automobile Club’s prestigious Segrave Trophy was presented last week to Zara and Mack Rutherford at the Pall Mall clubhouse. The two were awarded the trophy for becoming the youngest woman and youngest person, respectively, to circumnavigate the globe, a fantastic achievement that embodies all that the Segrave trophy represents.
Aviation has always been a passion for the Rutherford’s. Both their parents hold pilot’s licences, and frequently took the young Zara and Mack up in the air with them. As soon as they were able, the siblings were flying on their own – literally, in Mack’s case, as he became the world’s youngest qualified pilot at just 15 years and three months. This love for aviation continued, and enticed Zara, then aged 19, to attempt a circumnavigation of the globe. In doing so, she would become the youngest woman to fly around the world, which would lower the record by 11 years. She completed her flight on Thursday 20 January 2022, a 32,000-mile journey that took her through 51 countries over five months and two days.
This spirit of bravery and endeavour demonstrated by Zara inspired her brother Mack, then just 17 years old, to attempt a solo circumnavigation himself. Travelling 541,124km through 30 countries over five months and one day — just one fewer than Zara — Mack successfully broke the record for youngest person to fly solo around the world, breaking the record by just over a year.
On Sunday 10 July, the day before the presentation, Zara and Mack landed their Shark ultralight aircraft on the first fairway at the Woodcote Park clubhouse. Waiting for them was a crowd of golfers and media, all of whom gave the pilots a round of applause after the successful landing.
The Segrave Committee has a long history of recognising endeavours in aviation, with the award’s first recipient, Air Commodore Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, receiving the trophy for completing his transatlantic and England-to-Australia flights in 1930. A more recent Segrave winner, Paul Bonhomme, received the trophy in 2009 for becoming Britain’s first winner in the Red Bull Air Race, and was present at the awarding of the trophy to interview Zara and Mack.
Zara and Mack have demonstrated skill, bravery and courage, all key traits that the Segrave trophy represents. And, just as Sir Henry’s did almost a century ago, their actions inspire others in their own future endeavours.
