How to Be Superhuman

Paralympic hand cyclist Karen Darke was just 21 when she set off on a climbing trip that would change her life forever. Leading a climb on a sea cliff outside Aberdeen, she fell as the last bit of secured protection came away. Three days later, she woke up in intensive care to the news she’d broken her neck and back, paralysing her from the waist down.

In this episode, Rob Pope chats to Karen about her climbing accident and the achievements that followed it – from hand cycling across the Himalayas on a specially made tandem and spending a month in minus 30°C temperatures crossing Greenland on skies, to the highs and lows of Paralympic training, and a punishing schedule that took her to London and Rio...

Karen also reveals how she was forced to confront her fears and past trauma head-on when she agreed to climb the revered and unforgiving sheer granite behemoth of El Capitan in Yosemite, California. Twenty metres up and petrified, Karen shares the mental process she used to overcome her fear and take control of her mind, as she physically took on the equivalent of 4,000 pull-ups to scale the kilometre-high sheer granite rock face.

Listen to all episodes and discover more about How to Be Superhuman at http://redbull.com/superhuman

Boundary-pushing big wall climber, Sasha DiGiulian, holds multiple first ascents and more than 30 female firsts for some of the world’s most revered and difficult big wall climbs. In this episode, Rob Pope chats to Sasha about her journey from six-year-old indoor climber to world-renowned pro and free soloist - touching on her historic ascent of the Rocky Mountains Trilogy as the first woman (and only second person ever) to complete the trio of climbs in one season.

From unexpectedly having to free solo one of her earliest big wall first-ascents as the holds crumbled away in her hands 1,000ft up without any protection, to experiencing the exhilaration of climbing in a flow state whilst conquering the 5.14-grade Rocky Mountains Trilogy in 2018, Sasha chats about the risks and rewards that come with climbing when the ground is way beneath her feet.

She describes the moment she thought she was paralysed, and reveals the method she sometimes uses when she’s feeling scared of falling mid-climb by discussing her relationship with fear.

“Even after 20 years of climbing, I don’t think fear ever goes away.”

Listen to all episodes and discover more about How to Be Superhuman at http://redbull.com/superhuman

Gabriel Cordell became the first person to roll across the United States in a standard wheelchair - giving Rob Pope a lot to chat about with him as they shared tales of their incredible journeys travelling the width of North America.

Supported by a team of volunteers, the 3,100-mile journey from California to New York took 100 days to complete, and saw Gabriel pushing his chair for an average of 30 miles a day.

In the episode, Gabriel lays bare just how torturous this journey this really was, describing everything from the savage terrain he faced in Pennsylvania, as he rolled for 450 miles across the Appalachian Mountains (losing 15 pounds along the way), to the agonising shoulder pain he experienced as he reached mile 650, leaving him temporarily unable to roll his chair another metre.

But, as he reveals to Rob in the episode, it was such a willingness to withstand pain that saw him reach the finish line in his hometown of West Hempstead – and something, he says, we are all capable of. The difference, he says, in somebody accomplishing something extraordinary or not, is simply about overcoming the 'threshold...'

Gabriel also reveals the series of life events that later culminated in him seeking redemption through this Herculean physical and mental challenge – a journey that began 20 years previous when a car accident changed the course of his life forever.

Listen to all episodes and discover more about How to Be Superhuman at http://redbull.com/superhuman

Rob Pope catches up with British adventurer Anna McNuff, who ran 2,352 miles completely barefoot across Great Britain. That's the equivalent of 90 marathons over everything from gritty tarmac to muddy moorland.

"By the end, the last two weeks, I was just a shell of a woman. I just wasn’t even there. I was going through all the motions but mentally I was gone..." reveals Anna, as she explains to Rob the mental toil she was feeling as she approached the London finish line -- having travelled all the way from the Shetland Islands.

From how she coped mentally with such a long (and often painful) journey, to how her body also learned to adapt to the relentless stress and exposure, Anna gives an epic insight into the workings of her mind and body as she pushed them to their limits.

Anna also reveals what went into preparing for the challenge – namely, the one-and-a-half years she spent learning to run barefoot – as well as her motivations for doing it. And she reveals some of the unforgettable moments and encounters she had along the way that made all the hard graft worthwhile -- including one particular 24-mile run that she enjoyed with one giant, and very inspirational, lobster...

Read more about Anna and her adventure at https://win.gs/BarefootBritain

Listen to all episodes and discover more about How to Be Superhuman at http://redbull.com/superhuman

Tim Don was out for routine training ahead of the Kona IRONMAN World Championship when he had an accident with a truck - breaking his neck and leaving him with carbon fibre ring drilled into his skull (known as a 'halo') to help the fracture heal.

Just six months and five days later he completed the Boston Marathon in less than two hours and 50 minutes.

Rob Pope asks this extraordinary Superhuman about his brilliant career leading up to that horrific incident in Hawaii which led him to becoming a world record holder; what he remembers of the incident and how he recovered from the 'hangman's fracture' and not being able to move from his belly button up.

From having to sleep bolt upright in a chair, to having the screws in his skull regularly tightened to keep the halo place, Tim lays bare the torture he went through in what he describes as "the toughest two months of my life".

But through sheer dogged perseverance, Tim explains to Rob how he refused to let the accident – or his agonising brace – put his hopes of competing again on hold: continuing to train in the gym, and later on the turbo trainer, to gradually build up his strength and fitness. And as he reveals in the episode, his training and tenacity didn't just pay off. It led to a comeback of epic proportions...

Also watch the Red Bull TV documentary on Tim 'The Man with the Halo' http://win.gs/ManWithTheHalo

Listen to all episodes and discover more about How to Be Superhuman at http://redbull.com/superhuman

Rob Pope speaks to trials bike legend and Red Bull athlete Dougie Lampkin about his record-breaking 37-mile wheelie around the Island of Man's TT course. The feat, which Dougie took months of painstaking preparation and saw Dougie pushed to the very limits of his physical and mental capacity.

Chatting to Rob about what exactly went into making it happen, Dougie opens up about the many setbacks he endured on his journey to the start line – and how, at one point, he even pulled the plug on the project completely, as he began to believe he had taken on the impossible.

He also reveals the overwhelming pressure he experienced on the day itself, when swarmed by film crews and spectators – and haunted by the underlying knowledge that, with one small slip, the project would be over.

And as Dougie relives the course, section by section, with Rob – from riding over the Snaefell mountain road amid volatile winds, to the crippling pain he felt in his back and legs as he attempted to maintain control of the bike going into the home-straight – the knife-edge nature of this never-before-done feat becomes eye-wateringly clear...

Watch the Red Bull TV documentary 'Wheelie Man' at https://win.gs/WheelieMan

Listen to all episodes and discover more about How to Be Superhuman at http://redbull.com/superhuman

Fell runner Jasmin Paris made headlines when she became the first woman to win the gruelling 268-mile Montane Spine Race outright. Dubbed ‘Britain’s most brutal’ running event, it takes place in the depths of winter and sees competitors running the entire length of the Pennine Way – mostly in pitch black darkness.

In this episode, Rob Pope chats to Jasmin about what it took to finish the race in 83h 12m 23s – 12 hours faster than anyone of either sex had before. From tactically deciding when – and how much – to sleep, to ensure she stayed ahead of the pack, to how, mentally, she coped with the very, long and difficult sections of this desperately lonely race.

Still breastfeeding her 14-month-old daughter, Rowan, at the time, Jasmin also touches on the logistics of having to express breastmilk at the race's various checkpoints along the way but, describes how, despite the media attention this gained at the time, "it really wasn't such a big deal".

Jasmin also provides her view on why women are more competitive with the men when it comes to ultra-distance running – but explains why she, personally, doesn't see herself as 'superhuman'.

Listen to all episodes and discover more about How to Be Superhuman at http://redbull.com/superhuman

As a boat bound for Greece, filled with passengers attempting to flee war-torn Syria starting sinking - those on board feared the worst. But, over the course of three and a half monumental hours, Yusra Mardini and her sister Sara achieved the unthinkable as they jumped into the Aegean Sea and swam, guiding the boat to safety.

Rob Pope speaks to this true superhuman as she explains and relives the terrifying ordeal. From arriving in Turkey and finding smugglers to facilitate their journey, to the four days spent waiting at the coast without food, shelter or water, to the devastating moment the boat's engine cut out just 20 minutes after leaving shore, Yusra shares every detail of the fateful crossing.

Mercifully, Yusra's decision paid off – not only helping her find the peace she was so desperately searching for, but pursue her passion in a way she may never have thought possible...

Listen to all episodes and discover more about How to Be Superhuman at http://redbull.com/superhuman

Professional rugby player Ed Jackson was enjoying a BBQ when he suffered a fate that would change the course of his life forever. He'd dived into his friend's swimming pool, crashing his head at the bottom – an impact so severe that the disk between his C6 and C7 vertebrae (the two at the bottom of the neck) exploded and dislocated, cutting through half of his spinal cord.

He was told he would never be able to walk again - but just a year later was stood at the top of Mount Snowdon.

In this episode Rob Pope Rob chats through the horrific series of events that took place that day - from the journey to the hospital he very nearly didn't survive, to waking up after seven hours of surgery to discover he could no longer feel his hands or feet.

Ed explains how he took his fate into his own hands by using the power of his mind to revive his dormant body and ultimately carve out a new identity for himself as a quadriplegic climber – as well as a new life committed to helping people through the mountains.

Find out more about Wings for Life's work to find a cure for spinal cord injury at http://wingsforlife.com

And how you can be part of the Wings for Life World Run at http://wingsforlifeworldrun.com

Listen to all episodes and discover more about How to Be Superhuman at http://redbull.com/superhuman

Imagine if your oxygen tank ran out while descending Mount Everest?

Mollie Hughes chats to Rob Pope about her experiences of climbing the world's tallest mountain - on both occasions - which led her to become the youngest woman to scale both sides at the age of just 26.

She explains how how her Sherpa, Lhakpa, saved her life at the notorious Hillary Step before returning for her second experience of the ‘Death Zone’ in 2017. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun? Mollie details her rationale for why, she believes, people should continue to climb it.

Read more about Mollie's incredible adventure to the South Pole which she completed in January 2020 at https://win.gs/MollieHughesSouthPole

Listen to all episodes and discover more about How to Be Superhuman at http://redbull.com/superhuman.