124: Ryan Atkins and Rea Kolbl: Champions Week Day 1

Ryan Atkins is the only six-time champion of World’s Toughest Mudder. No one else has won it more than three times and no other man has won it more than twice. Atkins won his first title in 2013 with the first-ever 100-mile performance at World’s Toughest Mudder. He also won individual titles in 2014 and 2017 as well as winning team titles in 2015, 2016, and 2018. His 2016 team performance with Jon Albon of 105 miles earned them the bonus prize of $100,000. Atkins also holds the record for highest mileage at a single WTM with 110 miles in 2017. Atkins is undoubtedly the greatest athlete in endurance OCR. Rea Kolbl is the reigning women’s champion of World’s Toughest Mudder. Her win in Atlanta in 2018 was a successful defense of her first win in Las Vegas 2017. With her back-to-back wins in 2017 and 2018 she became the first back-to-back individual winner since Amelia Boone in 2014 and 2015. Her 90 miles in 2017 tied the record for a woman set by Amelia Boone in 2012. Atkins and Kolbl are the only past winners to win back to back individual titles at two different race venues. Atkins won in 2013 in New Jersey and 2014 in Vegas. Kolbl won in 2017 in Vegas and 2018 in Atlanta. Ryan and Rea talked with us from a boat landing in Fiji. They will be teammates competing on the new Eco-Challenge airing on Amazon Prime in 2020. Stay tuned for more on the Eco-Challenge next year. --- Welcome to Champion's Week on World's Toughest Podcast. Every day this week we are talking with a past champion of World's Toughest Mudder Monday: 6x Champ Ryan Atkins and 2x Champ Rea Kolbl Tuesday: 2018 Champ Kris Mendoza Wednesday: 2016 Champ Stefanie Bishop Thursday: 2016 Champ Trevor Cichosz Friday: 3x Champ Amelia Boone ---   Do you want a World's Toughest Podcast sticker? We need six new reviews on Apple Podcasts by the end of Champions week. If we get those six reviews we will give away a stack of stickers to people who have left reviews for the show on Apple Podcasts and Amazon.com! Do it now! --- You can now text or call the show at (619) 378-4369. Leave us a voicemail! If your voicemail is good, it may be part of a future episode. If your voicemail is terrible it will probably be a part of a future episode. --- Like Tough Mudder this year, we are "getting back to our roots". Who from the WTM community would you like to hear from? Let us know in a review on Apple Podcasts. --- Follow us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.  Would you like to be a part of the show? Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Amazon.com and we'll read it on a future episode. Don't forget to subscribe and listen for new episodes every week.