Everything Endurance

Knoydart is a perfect backdrop for the Highland Ultra in so many ways. As well as being the ideal place to build a course for a 3-day, 125km race, full of technical climbs, breath-taking views and tranquillity, it is home to a positive and inspiring group of people working together to improve their community and the environment around them. We are proud to support that work through the Highland Ultra and also to be able to give these fantastic people a chance to talk to you via this podcast.

In this episode, we will talk to the winners of the 2023 race in April. Lauren Gregory, Axel Jannson and Fredrik Pettersen speak about their training, their experiences on the course, what did and didn't work as they prepared for this race and, in the case of our duo of Scandinavian winners, their unconventional route to the podium.

We then go into interviews with Lorna Schofield of the Knoydart Forest Trust and Finlay Greig of the Knoydart Ranger Service where we unpack some of the massive conservation projects being undertaken by members of the Knoydart Community and how the Highland Ultra supports them through donations from race fees, trees planted for t-shirts, and more.

Enter Highland Ultra 2024 here: https://www.beyondtheultimate.co.uk/race/highland-ultra

Learn more about the Knoydart Forest Trust and the Rangers from the links below:

Knoydart Forest Trust: https://www.knoydartforesttrust.org

Knoydart Ranger Service: https://knoydart.org/ranger

Time Stamps

Axel Jansson: 14:45

Fredrik Pettersen: 34:55

Lauren Gregory: 1:05:55

Lorna Schofield: 1:47:50

Finlay Greig: 2:07:55

Adam Kimble: 2:40:30

Each year since 1986, in Frozen Head State Park Tenessee, a race has taken place that teeters on the brink of being impossible to finish. An enigma of an event that eschews marketing, GPS tracking, and largely even race fees, and has a reputation as a serious contender for the title of toughest race on Earth.

In this episode, we talk to 3 runners who recently put in outstanding performances at the event. John Kelly was already one of the tiny group of people to ever finish the race and this year joined the even smaller group of those to finish it 2 times or more. Jasmin Paris put in the best performance by any female athlete in the history of the race, and Damian Hall managed to get all the way out onto loop 4 in his first-ever Barkley.

We also have Keith Dunn, master of Barkley Twitter, the only link between the race organisation and the outside world, chatting with Will about how he came to be such a big part of the event.

If that was somehow not enough, we also have another Radness Update from Adam Kimble, our man in America, who is here to talk us through some of the bigger US races and his journey to running the Badwater 135 in 2024.

Learn more about the Barkley Marathons by listening to our interview with Barkley Marathons creator and Race Director Gary Cantrell aka Lazarus Lake: https://bit.ly/EE36_LazLake

Image of Keith courtesy of Alexis Berg

Kristina Madsen of Denmark was a highly decorated ultra-runner and a holder of multiple FKTs already when in February she became the first woman to be the overall winner of a BTU Global Race Series event. Kristina won the Ice Ultra, BTU's 230km, 5-day race across the ice and snow of Swedish Lapland, where temperatures regularly drop as low as -40°c. In this episode, we chat with Kristina about her historic win and about what it takes to be successful when running in the Arctic.

If that wasn't enough, we also catch up with Karl Alvarez, who came 2nd in the same race and is currently part way through an attempt to complete all of BTU's races within a year.

You'll also find a Race Director's Round-Up of the Ice Ultra from Kris King, and a brand new regular feature we're loosely calling the Adam Kimble Radness Update where fellow BTU RD and professional ultra-runner Adam Kimble, brings you an enthusiastic update from the world of endurance achievement!

The Montane Winter Spine Races 2023 begin on Saturday 15th Jan, and in honour of this EPIC event, we thought we better make an EPIC podcast.

Welcome to our Spine Race Special.

Over the festive period, whilst many people were packing in mince pies and wrapping presents, the runners about to take part in #BritainsMostBrutal race were busy thinking about the 268-miles of non-stop racing waiting for them in the new year. And that's just those on the full-length edition. Across all 5 race classes, there were over 500 runners passing a nervous New Year thinking about the Pennine Way. This seemed like the perfect time to call them up and try and distill a little of that pre-race tension into a special edition of Everything Endurance.

In this episode, you'll find past podiumers, record holders, and Spine legends. There are short interviews with Anna Troup, Damian Hall, Ellie Eccles, Eoin Keith, Elaine Bisson, James Leavesley, Sharon Gayter, and the legendary Bobby Cullen. We talk through their motivations, their approach to preparing, their tips for first-time Spiners and more.

Obviously, we couldn't cover all the runners we wanted to across all the races. Check out the Ultrarunning Sam podcast though as Sam has also been interviewing Spiners recently and picked up a couple of people we weren't able to: https://www.youtube.com/@ultrarunningsam

For ease, here are the time-stamps of each interview:

06:15 Anna Troup

28:50 Damian Hall

46:10 Ellie Eccles

01:03:09 Eoin Keith

01:19:33 Elaine Bisson

01:34:25 James Leavesley

01:42:12 Sharon Gayter

02:07:08 Bobby Cullen - Apologies for the slightly lower sound quality during this interview.

Sabrina Pace-Humphreys is an ultra-runner, a mother and grandmother, a founding member of Black Trail Runners, and now the published author of 'Black Sheep: A story of Rural racism, Identity and Hope'. Sabrina will shortly be toeing the line at the Summer Spine Race 2022.

In an episode, Will and Sabrina chat through her whole journey from starting out as a runner in 2009, to her first contact with ultra-running, the creation, and reason behind the creation, of Black Trail Runners, and her preparations for the Summer Spine Race.

We learn what helped motivated Sabrina to begin this running journey and why she thinks so many others could benefit from starting on a fitness journey of their own.

Cover photo --> Roxanna Barry

Helen Murray is the producer and host of the wonderful InsideTri Show and, along with husband Richard Brown, recently completed the Highland Ultra, our brutal 125km, 3-day race around the West Highlands of Scotland. In this episode, we talk through their experiences in the Highlands, their transition from Tri to Ultras, the lessons they've taken from ultra-running, and the triathlon wisdom that helped them along the way.

Listen to Helen's own episode on the Highland Ultra and you'll learn how you can get a discounted entry for next year's race: https://www.insidetrishow.com/episode/highlandultra

Everything Endurance is back after a busy few months of putting on epic events. Will returns with a guest who has made a habit out of appearing on podiums of high profile Ultra races over the last year or so, the indomitable Simon Roberts.

Simon Roberts spent the race-free period of the pandemic honing his skills, doing his homework, and generally transforming himself into a race-winning-machine.

In this episode he talks Will through his first footsteps into ultra running and how about his experience of winning the Dragon's Back, The Montane Spine Challenger - North, and the Cheviot Goat.

We also introduce our new charity partner: https://www.bigmoosecharity.co/

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all you listeners!

In this shorter episode, Will and Kris end the year with a long-overdue Christmas catch-up. A chance to talk about the harder parts of running a global race series during a pandemic, but also to talk through the positive things that have happened in that time including the Highland Ultra, the Summer Spine Race, and Will finally finding the time to rewatch every episode of Lost.

As a special little Christmas gift, Kris has set up a discount code for all listeners to use in the BTU Store. For 10% off just enter EVERYTHINGENDURANCE10 at the checkout.

https://store.beyondtheultimate.co.uk/

See you in the New Year, everyone!

Will

4 years and 76 episodes have gone by since we last spoke to today's guest, ultra-runner and coach Robbie Britton.

Robbie has wracked up a successful running career in which he has run across countries, run 24hr events for Team GB, win the BTU Ice Ultra, and support some seriously talented runners through his elite coaching. Now he's taken that knowledge and refined it into 1001 Running Tips, a running guide with something for everyone.

In this episode, Will and Robbie talk through some of the tips to be found within and reflect back on 4 years of chatting to awesome adventurers.

Grab 1001 Running Tips here: https://www.v-publishing.co.uk/books/running/1-1-running-tips/

Learn more about Robbie: http://robbiebritton.co.uk/

On 14th October, Tom Garrod started the 253mile Lon Las Cymru Ultramarathon, a grueling race from the north to the south of Wales. When he reached the finish line, he turned around and raced back to the start alone - all to raise money for Kings College Hospital in memory of Mark Thornberry, a well-known fellow ultra-runner who sadly passed from liver cancer last year.

17 years earlier, Tom was diagnosed with stage IV testicular cancer and given a 5% chance of survival. In this episode, we hear all about his story of defying those odds and the journey afterward that led him into his amazing achievements as an ultra-athlete and his efforts to raise awareness of testicular cancer.

Learn more at https://bustinyourballs.org/

Donate to his Double Lon Las fundraiser here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/doublelonlascymru4thorners

Please Note - COLOURFUL LANGUAGE WARNING - there are a few expletives in this interview.