© Montane

Six years ago, Katy Parrott graced our screens alongside 21 other ‘recruits’ in series two of the BBC’s Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week. Based on the Special Forces’ ‘Hell Week’, the experience involved relentless ‘beastings’, mind games and severe sleep deprivation. The life-changing two-week experience (in which she was a finalist) inspired Katy to join the Army Reservists as a medic and led her to take on more endurance-based challenges.

Now 30, those challenges include running multiple ultramarathons (including a 3rd place finish at the 100km Cotswold Way), coming 2nd woman at the World Burpee Games, and summitting Mount Kazbek in Georgia. Most recently, Katy came fourth overall in the inaugural Montane Lapland Arctic Ultra 185km, a non-stop winter race in deepest Swedish Lapland. This was Katy’s first event after major knee reconstruction surgery in 2020, and the Montane athlete kindly took time out to give me the lowdown on her experience in this Q&A.