Sparta Chicks Radio: Mindset | Confidence | Sport | Women

Karen Barrett has a remarkable story which reinforces for me of the power of choice and the power of self-belief.

A talented runner as a child, Karen had an offer to train at the Australian Institute of Sport. But was forced to turn it down due to her difficult family circumstances.

Fast forward a few years and she had become “virtually homeless” and had developed a 2-pack-a day (and more on the weekends) smoking habit.

Then in her early 40s, she decided it was time to quit. She started walking her dogs daily and built up to running 5km - in her steel capped work boots no less - before she discovered and bought her first pair of running shoes as an adult.

That transformation started in 2009, and she hasn’t looked back.

Since then she’s gone onto win and set the women’s course record for the Buffalo Stampede Grand Slam (a series of races in the Victorian Alps over 3 days) and this year, in 2019 she became the first woman ever to finish the Down Under 135, a 135mi/217km race described as Australia’s “gnarliest” foot race.

Oh and I should mention - she was 3rd overall too!

In this conversation Karen shares why trail running is so important to her, why she sets out to win any race she enters (and where that confidence comes from), the extensive mental preparation she puts into her races, and how much sleep she got during the 49 hours it took her to finish the Down Under 135 (you’ll be amazed!)

Settle in and buckle up; this is a fun, deep, long and laughter filled episode of Sparta Chicks Radio.

Tiffany Winchester is an ultra-endurance cyclist, with a love of doughnuts, who is currently preparing to ride the Paris-Brest-Paris; an iconic 1,200km endurance cycling event in France later this year.

Tiff finished her first bike race as a child and then took a “25 year rest week” from almost all forms of exercise.

It wasn’t until her 30s that she started walking and “procrasta-hiking” (as she calls it) as a way to clear her head and clarify her thoughts while working on her PhD.

After a brief (yet deep) love affair with trail running, Tiff was introduced to the world of cycling 3 years ago - and hated it at first!

Ultimately, she has since found her ‘happy place’ in the incredibly gruelling world of ultra-endurance cycling.

In this conversation, Tiff and I discuss:

- why she had to stop racing for mental health reasons,

- why she didn’t consider herself a ‘cyclist’ until after her first 1,200km ride, and

- the impact social media had on her perception of herself as a cyclist and how it fed her sense of feeling like an Imposter.

I could fill a page just listing Samantha Gash’s achievements.

In 2010, and in her first ultramarathon, Sam became the first female and youngest person to complete the Racing the Planet 4 Deserts Grand Slam, running 4 ultra marathons across the driest, windiest, hottest and coldest deserts on Earth.

That was followed in 2011 by a 222km non-stop race through the Indian Himalayas.

It was during that run across the Himalayas that Sam decided to use her running for a greater purpose.

Since then, she’s run 379km solo, non-stop across the Simpson Desert in Australia as well as the length of South Africa’s Freedom Trail (almost 2,000km) to raise funds and awareness for the work of Save the Children.

Then in 2016, as an ambassador for World Vision, Sam set out on her most ambitious project to date; running across India.

Over 76 days, she ran 3,253km from the west to the east of India and, in the process, raised close to $200,000 to fund 6 programs to improve access to education for children in India.

In this conversation, Sam and I discuss:

- the tipping point when Sam transitioned from running for herself to running for others,

- what inspired the ‘Run India’ project as well as the impact it had on her,

- why she cringes at the word 'inspiration’,

- her experience with the Imposter Complex,

- the power of (and what it means to be) truly committed to a goal.

Sarah Anne Evans and Pippa Lyon who are both members of the Veloroos; an Australian non-professional women’s cycling team.

This is Sarah Anne’s second time on the podcast. She joined me with her Veloroos teammate Julie Ann Hazlett in July 2017 to talk about winning their category at the 5,000km Race Across American in 2015 (you can find that conversation here).

In 2019, Sarah Anne and Julie Anne, together with a third team member, Pippa Lyon (who you’ll meet today on the podcast for the first time) are about to tackle their hardest challenge to date.

The ladies have joined an international women’s cycling team called the InternationElles for an ambitious project.

Together with a female women’s cycling team, the InternationElles will ride every stage of the 2019 Tour de France, one day ahead of the men’s professional race.

So basically, yes, they are riding the Tour de France!

It’s a journey of 3,640km over 21 stages, which works out at roughly 1200km of cycling per week - for 3 weeks!

And, if that’s not hard enough, the route chosen for this year’s Tour de France has been described as the mountainous in the 106 year history of the race!

The reason: to raise the profile of women in cycling and to fight for equality in the sport. The biggest cycling race in the world has no female representation. The InternationElles are hoping to be part of the push to change that!

How does ocean surf ski paddling figure into one woman’s version of a mid-life crisis?

We ask Quona Ross Atkinson on Sparta Chicks Radio this week!

Quona grew up on a cattle station in North Queensland and started competing in rodeos, camp drafting and show riding from the time she was 3.

An extensive career in barrel racing followed before she took up adventure racing in her 40s.

Fast forward to 2019 and after just 5 years in the sport of ocean surf ski paddling, she’s about to compete in the famous 52km Molokai Challenge (considered the hardest ski paddle race in the world) as well representing Australia for the first time at the age of 51 at the Ocean Racing World Championships.

What’s incredible about Quona’s story is that she is a FIFO worker (‘fly in, fly out’), so for 2 weeks every month, she works 800km from the ocean!

Plus with 2 sons and a husband who is deployed overseas for 6 months at a time, she somehow manages to find the time to chase her extraordinary goals.

The secret: being truly committed to them!

Kelli Jackson was in her 40s and an “unassuming middle-aged overweight accountant who smoked” when, at a retreat in Bali, she blurted out that she wanted to ride a unicycle around the world.

That was in 2010, but it wasn’t until she “survived” 2015 that Kelli started pursuing her goal - which included:

- learning to ride a unicycle (she didn’t know how when she set the goal!), and

- getting a large tattoo of a unicycle and the date she planned to start her adventure.

Talk about being committed to your goals!

Since then, Kelli has ridden her unicycle the length of Taiwan (430km) and later this month will set out to ride the length of South Korea (635km) and hopefully become the first Westerner to unicycle inside North Korea!

With a background in social work and after losing her beloved Dad tragically to bowel cancer, it’s hardly surprising Annie Crawford decided she wanted to “make a difference” rather than returning to the paid workforce when she returned to Australia after living in the US for several years.

And she’s made a profound difference in the lives of thousands of Australians ever since.

Annie founded Can Too in 2005, a charity with the goal of creating a healthier and fitter community while also funding innovative cancer research.

To be honest, I always thought of Can Too as a cancer fundraising organisation first and foremost.

But as Annie points out in this conversation, Can Too is dedicated to promoting health and wellbeing and encouraging people to step out of their comfort zone, by committing to an event - perhaps their first 7km, first marathon or first ocean swim - with the support of like-minded people and professional coaches, while raising funds for cancer research.

If you’re in Australia, you’ll no doubt be familiar with the ubiquitous orange singlets worn by runners at most events around the country these days.

Over the last 14 years, over 15,000 people have participated in Can Too programs and raised over $21m for cancer research.

While I was familiar with the work and programs run by Can Too, I wanted to know more about the woman with the vision behind the scenes, so I asked :)

We discuss:

* what inspired Annie to establish Can Too,

* the role running has played in managing her mental health,

* why you need to remember that you can’t die of fear (my new favourite quote!),

* her experience with the Imposter Complex,

And more.

Emily Duggan’s story is a perfect example of why it’s important to share the stories of women in sport.

When Emily was a little girl, she was watching TV one weekend and came across the Supercar motor racing series here in Australia and was instantly hooked.

However Emily, in that moment, also realised there were no women racing and thought it was a “boy’s sport” and put it to the back of her mind (as the saying goes, “you can’t be what you can’t see”).

Thankfully the voice that whispered to Emily that day never disappeared and as soon as she started working, she began saving for her first racing car - and hasn’t looked back since.

In 2016, Emily became the 1st female driver to race in the V8 Touring Car Series here in Australia and now in 2019 is racing in the Super3 series (which is the 3rd tier in the Supercar series here).

And sometime soon, I know we’ll see Emily line up on the start of the iconic Bathurst 1000 race (a race I’ve promised to watch, for the first time ever, when she does!).

Emily shares her story with me on Sparta Chicks Radio this week.

In November 2013, Renee Kiley joined friends to watch the Noosa Triathlon. And life hasn’t been the same since.

At the time Renee was an overweight, unhealthy, pack-a-day smoker.

Yet the race reignited Renee’s childhood love of competitive sport. And despite not having ridden a bike or swum laps since she was a kid, Renee set a goal to compete in the Noosa Triathlon the following year.

She did that, and more.

In March 2014, Renee lined up at the start of her very first triathlon; a Sprint distance triathlon.

And less than 3 1/2 years later, Renee raced for the first time as a professional triathlete. 

Many people involved in endurance sports have undergone dramatic transformations; from losing weight, quitting smoking and overcoming major health issues.

But I was curious how Renee was able to take her performance and achievements to the next level and became a professional athlete in a sport she didn’t know even existed only a few years ago.

So I asked :)

If there is one woman who has had an up-close-and-personal relationship with fear, it’s Kristen Ulmer.

At 20, Kristen was skiing for the love of it and in jeans.

By 23, she was on the US moguls ski team, starred in the first of 20 extreme skiing movies and was named the ski media as best woman big mountain extreme skier in the world (a ‘title’ she held for 12 years).

This is a woman who came face to face with fear, in life-and-death situations, regularly and she developed a very intimate relationship with it.

However it was only towards the end of her career, as injuries, illness and PTSD took their toll, she began to realise her relationship with fear wasn’t healthy and that it has caused or contributed to many of these problems.

And so she began an in-depth study and obsession with fear.

Fast forward to now and she’s the author of a book called 'The Art of Fear: Why Conquering Fear Won’t Work and What To Do Instead'.

The premise behind it is that conquering, mastering, and trying to overcome fear doesn’t work and instead, we need to learn to embrace our fear and listen to it (rather than trying to ignore it or quieten it down).