The Checkpoint

This conversation is with arguably the greatest male mountain runner of all time Joseph Gray.

Joseph won the World Mountain Running Championships in 2016 and 2019, he’s the US record holder for the legendary uphill Mount Washington Road Race, he’s won the Pikes Peak Ascent, has an impressive collection of FKTs and he’s come second at Sierre-Zinal. He’s also an 18-time national champion, which just shows his consistency over many years.

In this conversation we talk about:

You can follow him on Instagram at @joegeezi

In this weeks A-Z of trail running Sabrina and Marcus cover the letter I (Injury, ibuprofen, inclusivity).

This episode of The Checkpoint podcast is sponsored by The North Face®️.

This episode of The Checkpoint podcast is sponsored by The North Face®️.

On this weeks podcast episode we bring you an interview with BBC Radio 1Xtra DJ and aspiring trial ultra runner, Reece Parkinson.

Reece detailed his aim to run his first 55 mile ultramarathon in the BBC Documentary ‘How not to run 55 miles’.

In this interview, recorded during an Instagram Live, we cover:

Plus more.

This episode of The Checkpoint podcast is sponsored by The North Face®️.

In episode 9 we speak with Sabrina Verjee, who is a 40-year old small animal vet by day and a top 10 race ranking, FKT smashing, mountain loving ultrarunner the rest of the time.

In 2020 alone, she was the first woman in The Spine Race Winter Edition (268 miles). She completed the Wainwright Round (326 miles and 118,000ft ascent) in 6 days, 17 hours, and 51 minutes and she also claimed the women’s record for running The Pennine Way (268 miles) in 3 days, 2 hours and 28 minutes and - point to note here – she was running into a headwind for 140 miles of this!

In her sporting life, Sabrina has competed in modern pentathlon, rowing and – before getting into ultrarunning - adventure racing, which she’ll tell us more about in this episode. She ventured into to ultrarunning after finding the amount of kit she needed for the adventure stuff ‘a bit of a faff’ and realised a talent for the discipline which led to her taking part in her first ultra – the Grand Tour of Skiddaw - in which she came in as 1st woman and was 5th overall.

Look up her accomplishments and you’ll see her placing top 10 in some of the most gruelling races there are, if not outright winning them. Sabs says her challenges are holidays and a ‘chance to switch off’.

This episode of The Checkpoint podcast is sponsored by The North Face®️.

In episode 8 we speak with Michael Holding, who is a sporting legend; one of the best fast bowlers ever to have played test cricket. In the 1970s and 80s he was part of the fearsome bowling attack of the all-conquering West Indies team. He played in 60 test matches, taking 249 wickets.

His 14 for 189 against England at the Oval in 1976 remain the best bowling figures by a West Indies player in test cricket. In 1981, at Bridgetown, Barbados, he bowled what many consider to be the best ever over of fast bowling, beating England opener Geoff Boycott for pace five times before clean bowling him with the final ball of the over.

Since retiring as a player, he has made a name for himself as an astute cricket commentator, a distinctive voice on radio and television. Last summer, during Sky Sports coverage of the England/West Indies test series, he went viral after speaking out about historical and institutional racism in an emotional interview that caused many within the world of cricket and beyond to sit up and take notice.

In a candid interview, he speaks about his career, about being a black man in the world of sport, and about his forthcoming book on the erasure and re-emergence of black history.

This episode of The Checkpoint podcast is sponsored by The North Face®️.

In episode 7 we speak with Imani-Lara Lansiquot who is a Team GB 100m and relay sprinter, a PUMA athlete and one of 12 Sky Sports Scholars.

Born and bred in Peckham, London, Imani won the 100m English Schools Championships in July 2013. At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, she reached the 100 metres semi-finals and went on to win a silver medal in the 4 × 100m relay. And, in 2020, she became the 100m British champion

Imani is now Athlete Lead in British Athletics' Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advocates Group.  And in a recent interview she talked about the importance of representation, saying: ‘From first-hand experience, seeing somebody who looks like you breaking boundaries and gaining success opens endless doors for young people who may not have believed they could. It actively changes the culture by influencing the next generation to aspire for more.’

You can follow Imani on Instagram at @imanilara

This episode of The Checkpoint podcast is sponsored by The North Face®️.

In this weeks episode of The Checkpoint podcast Sabrina speaks to Anyika Onuora.

Anyika is a retired British sprint track and field athlete who competed in the 100, 200 and 400 metres and also the 4 x 100, 200 and 400 metres relay.

She won a host of medals in her career including, at the Rio Olympics in 2016, an Olympic bronze medal as a member of the 4 x 400 metre relay team.

Earlier this year Anyika expressed her feelings on how athletes were experiencing their own trauma following the murder of George Floyd and the rise of BLM in a self-penned article for the Huffington Post.

In this episode we discuss:

Plus much more.

This episode of The Checkpoint podcast is sponsored by The North Face®️.

We continue the final part of the conversation with Huwe Burton, from episode 5 (1/2).

Huwe is a cousin of Black Trail Runners co-founder Sonny Peart. He is a two-time New York Marathon finisher, who took up running while serving a life sentence for murder. In 1989, aged 16, he was convicted of killing his mother. He served 20 years in prison before being released on parole in 2009. In 2019, with the help of the Innocence Project, his conviction, based on a forced confession, was overturned, and he was exonerated.

The police officers and District Attorney who conspired in his wrongful conviction, have yet to account for their actions.

Huwe talks with remarkable clarity about the circumstances of his case, about its historical context, how he continues to campaign for law officers who knowingly sent him to jail to be brought to justice, and how running helped him come to terms with incarceration, release and subsequent exoneration.

You can follow Huwe on Facebook @ Huwe M Burton. You can follow Black Trail Runners on Instagram @blacktrailrunners.

You can support the Innocence Project at innocenceproject.org, and follow them on Instagram @innocenceproject.

This episode of The Checkpoint podcast is sponsored by The North Face®️.

In episode 5 we speak with Huwe Burton. Huwe is a cousin of Black Trail Runners co-founder Sonny Peart. He is a two-time New York Marathon finisher, who took up running while serving a life sentence for murder. In 1989, aged 16, he was convicted of killing his mother. He served 20 years in prison before being released on parole in 2009. In 2019, with the help of the Innocence Project, his conviction, based on a forced confession, was overturned, and he was exonerated.

The police officers and District Attorney who conspired in his wrongful conviction, have yet to account for their actions.

Huwe talks with remarkable clarity about the circumstances of his case, about its historical context, how he continues to campaign for law officers who knowingly sent him to jail to be brought to justice, and how running helped him come to terms with incarceration, release and subsequent exoneration.

With so much ground to cover – 20 lost years of life – this is the first of a two-part conversation. The second part will be released as episode 6 in a few days. You can follow Huwe on Facebook @ Huwe M Burton. You can follow Black Trail Runners on Instagram @blacktrailrunners.

You can support the Innocence Project at innocenceproject.org, and follow them on Instagram @innocenceproject.

This episode of The Checkpoint podcast is sponsored by The North Face®.

In episode 4 we speak with Matilda Egere-Cooper.

Matilda is a long-distance runner and founder of the amazing ‘Fly Girl Collective’ London's first running, fitness and wellness community with the aim to inspire black and brown women to pursue a healthy fitness lifestyle through running.

Most recently their first virtual challenge ‘Run for the Culture’ to celebrate Black History month has got loads of black women smashing their fitness goals this year.

This was a powerful conversation where Matilda shared lessons she learned across sport, faith and life, including diversity in sport.

Additionally in this episode, we catchup with the BTR community member Kuwanna Dyer-Pietras as we highlight the voices of the community.

Sabrina and Marcus provide an update on upcoming trail races. Plus they move onto letter D for the A-Z of trail running.

You can follow Matilda on Instagram @matildaegerecooper

You can follow Kuwanna on Instagram @kmdyerpietras

You can follow Black Trail Runners on Instagram @blacktrailrunners

This episode of The Checkpoint is sponsored by The North Face.

In the 3rd Checkpoint podcast we speak to the ever inspirational DJ, producer, motivator, yoga teacher and founder of the legendary Run Dem Crew, Charlie Dark.

Host Phil Young goes back to the beginning of Charlie’s fascinating life journey to discover the realities of being a young black boy in 80s London, how that led to touring the world with his band Attica Blues and harnessing the tools that enabled him to engage a new audience into the joys and freedom of running.

Charlie is a man of many talents and plenty of strings to his bow, in a world where BLM has been pushed up the social agenda for media, brands and organisations, he delivers words of wisdom and caution to the black and brown community on the cusp of change.

Phil also reports from the Black Trail Runners’ inaugural ’Trail Taster’ in Wendover woods provided by Centurion Running. Marcus and Sabrina give us a trail race update and move on up to ‘C’ in our A - Z of trail running.

Follow Charlie on insta - @daddydarkrdc

Run Dem - @run.dem.crew https://www.rundemcrew.com https://www.elephantpark.co.uk/run-dem-radio/

BTR - @blacktrailrunners