Sparta Chicks Radio: Mindset | Confidence | Sport | Women

Kathryn Bertine is an author, athlete, activist and filmmaker and you’ll meet her on Sparta Chicks Radio this week. 

In 2006, Kathryn was a journalist who had been racing as a professional triathlete, when a journalism assignment with ESPN changed the trajectory of her life. 

The task: to be a guinea pig and see if she could qualify for the Olympic Games in a sport within 18 months.

And she chose the sport of road cycling. 

Now, a spoiler alert: she didn’t make the team - but as she writes in Stand, “something wild happened”. She “almost” did. And the “almost” changed her.

“[I]t is not the victories or losses that define our paths in life but the Wonder and What Ifs that lie between”

Not only did she come to fall in love with road cycling during the ESPN assignment, but she also became aware and started to question the inequities she could see in the sport. 

So she set 3 goals - to become a professional cyclist, to get women into the Tour de France and to quiet the demons of worthlessness in her head.

She shares the stories of this — and much more in her compelling new memoir, Stand: A memoir on activism. A manual for progress. What really happens when we stand on the front lines of change. 

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Kathryn on Instagram: @kathryn_bertine

If you're struggling with motivation, your mojo is MIA or you feel like you've lost your spark, this is for you!

You can find all the details here.

Josie is a New Zealand based runner and Holistic Wellness Coach who grew up watching her Dad compete in running events.

As she tells the story in this conversation, she was a chubby kid who was teased about her weight so she started running during her teenage years to lose weight.

Unfortunately, she soon found herself in a cycle of overtraining, under-recovery & under-eating for about 9 years.

Ultimately it culminated in her experiencing the female athlete triad (as it was referred to then, which is a combination of disordered eating, amenorrhea and osteoporosis or low bone density) and ultimately a stress fracture in her hip.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Neanne Alnafta doesn’t like labels. But it is hard to introduce someone without them. 

So for this moment, I will share that she is a proud Muslim woman, a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney, an ocean swimmer and a volunteer surf lifesaver.

She is also someone who is (and I quote) “freakishly scared” of the ocean.

I came across Neanne’s story after reading an article about an organisation called ‘Swim Sisters’, an all-female swimming squad that empowers women, especially those from Islamic backgrounds, to feel more confident and comfortable in the ocean.

You may know Swim Sisters by its former name - Burkini Babes, a group launched in France in 2016 by a group of women who were banned from wearing burkinis on the beach.

In this conversation, Neanne and I discuss:

- her love of soccer growing up,

- why she felt like swimming and beach life weren’t for her after she started wearing the hijab, 

- the power and importance of representation,

- what prompted her to become involved in ocean swimming and then surf lifesaving (despite being “freakishly” scared of the ocean), 

- the healing impact of ocean swimming on mental health,

- why fear is not a bad thing.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

Growing up exercise was a source of shame and embarrassment for Brooke Nolan. 

It was only in her late 20s that she discovered a love of outdoor adventure.

Fast forward a few years and in March 2020, Brooke found herself on the first all-female team to cross the Finnmark Plateau, which is an ice plateau in Arctic Norway.

The crossing was a journey of 250km 14 days that required the team to drag sleds weighing up to 50kgs up to 20km each day in temperatures as cold as -30.

Oh, did I mention? Before committing to this expedition, Brooke had never seen snow before, and certainly didn’t know how to ski!

Now we could have spent the entire episode talking about the expedition, but as I said, this was March 2020 and Brooke and her team were off the grid for 14 days.

When they left, Covid-19 was a blip on the radar.

By the time they returned, it had become a pandemic, borders were closing and it was a race to the airport to try and get a flight home, which ultimately took her over 4 months. 

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Jamie Mittelman is the host of my new favourite podcast - Flame Bearers: The Women Athletes Carrying Tokyo's Torch.  The podcast celebrates the journeys of unsung women Olympians & Paralympians.

And she joins me on Sparta Chicks Radio this week!

We discuss: 

- the role sport and outdoor activities played in her family growing up,

- sport as a mental health tool, 

- her struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) particularly during College and how it affected her love of soccer, 

- where the idea for the podcast came from and why it’s so important,

- the episodes that have left a lasting impression on her,

- some of the common lessons or themes her guests have shared, and

- why she feels “athletically unqualified” to host the podcast and her experience with the Imposter Complex.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Jamie (and Flame Bearers) on Instagram: @flamebearers

Based in Boulder, Erin Carson is the co-owner & operator of Rally Sports and is the head coach for EC Fit.

Her clients include the dynamic duo of Mirinda Carfrae (3 x Ironman World Champion) and  Tim O’Donnell (fastest American ever at Kona).

Aside from the World Champions she coaches, Erin also coaches everyday people - like me!  I use Erin’s ECFit on Demand app for my strength and conditioning program. 

She’s a visionary who is changing what it means to be a strong athlete and the best strength training for endurance athletes. 

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Erin on Instagram: @ecfit_strength

Selene is also an extraordinary athlete in her own right.

She’s been a semi-professional athlete since her late 30s and has competed in everything from Hawaii Ironman to 7-day mountain bike stage races and 200 mile (that’s 320km) gravel classics.

And she hosts the popular podcast ‘Hit Play Not Pause” for active performance-minded women in their 40s and beyond.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Follow Selene on Instagram: @fitchick3

An avid hiker, Ingrid Messner has travelled to over 50 countries and most recently hiked Australia’s 10 highest peaks, carrying about 18kg of gear and equipment, over the space of a week.

She’s come along way from the experience she shares in this episode: of having to learn to walk again - twice!

The first time after a hiking accident in 2017 (which took 11 months of recovery) and the second after contracting a viral infection in 2019.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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A few weeks ago, Sparta Chicks Radio celebrated its 4th birthday. 

And there is no-one I’d rather share that celebration with than Lucy Barnard! 

Lucy is attempting to become the 1st woman to walk the length of the world.

She set off in February 2017 from Tierra Del Fuego in Argentina to walk to Barrow, Alaska; a journey of 30,000km /20,000mi across 15 countries she anticipated would take her 5 years. 

Yes, years.

Lucy was first on the podcast in March 2018.

When I was preparing to speak to Lucy for that episode, I realised we share a unique connection; we both started our respective journeys - Lucy started walking and I published the first podcast - on the very same day in 2017.

That conversation turned into our first anniversary / birthday celebration and we agreed to catch up each year for an update on her progress! 

This is our 4th annual episode and Lucy joins me to share how 2020 unfolded for her.

Get the full show notes for the episode here.

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Visit the Sparta Chicks Radio website here 

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Follow Lucy on Instagram: @tanglesandtail