For ultra-runner turned OCR athlete, Rea Kolbl, the longer the event, the better. Unbeaten in all of her 8-hr+ obstacle course races, the former Slovenian gymnast has a strong work ethic carved out after spending four hours a day training for the national team as a child.

A two-time World’s Toughest Mudder winner, Rea has excelled in 24-hour obstacle races and her success spreads across OCR to ultra-trail skyrace podiums (she came second in the Broken Arrow Skyrace). The Dryrobe ambassador trains every day, but took a break from her training in Boulder, Colorado, where she lives, to answer chat mountain running, 90-mile weeks, and her propensity for suffering.

Rea gave me such wonderfully detailed answers I decided to make this a two-part interview. Check back on Friday for part two!

Scottish ultrarunner Debbie Martin-Consani last joined me on Lessons in Badassery in 2018 to chat about her Tor des Geants experience. Since then, she packed a lot of bucket list races into her schedule, completing Transgrancanaria, the Bob Graham Round (66 miles, 27,000 ft elevation), Tor des Geants (205 miles), and the renowned Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB, 100 miles) within a mere 12 months. Phew.

With the UTMB ticked off her bucket list, Debbie gives me the lowdown on her experience, as I also quiz her on the details of her crazy 12 months of running. Thanks, Debbie!

© Bartek Wolinski

Last year, American cross country mountain biker Kate Courtney took her first elite world title, overtaking Annika Langvad on the rooty closing stages of the women’s elite cross country race to win gold at the 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. It was her debut season as an elite athlete and her win (by 47 seconds!) marked America’s first gold medal in the event for 17 years.

I’m massively excited to have Kate (who is also the US national champion) on Lessons in Badassery today. She may have only stepped up from U23 racing last year, but with 9 wins in 2017 alone she’s already the consummate pro – helpful, humble and a dream guest. Enjoy the read.

© @lukaszwarzecha

British ski instructor, Rachel Kerr, has been tearing up the French slopes for the last fifteen years, teaching everyone from beginners to serious off-piste skiers, and even ski-touring the north face of Mont Blanc. Outside of work she indulges her love of mountain sports, competing in some of winter’s most renowned skimo races, including the legendary Patrouille des Glaciers.

Inspired to encourage more women to get together and hone their mountain skills in Chamonix, Rachel founded the Women’s Mountain Club three years ago, a group dedicated to developing women’s mountain confidence via skill workshops, mini adventures and fortnightly meet-ups, which she now runs with fellow British ski instructor Fay Mackman and creative head, Naoimh O Hagan. Here, in between teaching and training, Rachel gives us an insight into her life in Chamonix on and off the slopes.

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Swiss triathlete Caroline Steffen, 40, returned to racing last year after the birth of her son, Xander, now 11 months, and took a course record in her first full Ironman distance triathlon since Kona in 2015 – Ironman Western Australia. Impressive enough without considering she was still breastfeeding at the time.

So how does the On ambassador do it? Caroline very kindly took time out of her hectic schedule to chat Kona qualification, her journey back to fitness, and how she’s loving her newest and most important role yet – as mum to her ‘little mate’.

© Aaron Rolph

Adventure-loving Emily Scott has an impressively diverse endurance CV, which includes everything from swimming 14km in open water to completing a six day adventure race, scaling Mont Blanc, finishing 7 Ironman triathlons and running the 155km West Highland Way in less than 3 days. No stranger to dreaming up her own adventure challenge, last year Emily embarked on a four-month continuous Munro bagging round, scaling all 282 of Scotland’s munros (mountains above 3000ft) in a self-propelled expedition which covered 2600km by bike, 2200km on foot and three kayaking stints with a total elevation gain of 150,000m – all self-supported.

Emily, who is based in Morzine where she works as a ski instructor, is part of the British Adventure Collective, a collaboration of UK athletes and photographers looking to explore and share their adventures to inspire others. In this Q&A she chats about her love of endurance sport and her experience bagging 282 Munros.

© Martina Valmassoi

American trail runner Katie Schide spent her childhood and early adult years hiking in the mountains, so it’s perhaps not a surprise that she now negotiates them so quickly on foot. After swapping America for Zurich, the almost 27-year-old (it’s Katie’s birthday on Thursday) geologist now has the Swiss mountains as her training ground and a slew of mountain race wins to her name. A two-time Pierra Menta Ete race winner, Katie’s also won the 85km Maxi Race, and last year she added a cherry on top with an incredible second place at the CCC, the 100km mountain race from the UTMB.

Here, Katie spills the beans on hiking, hut life, her CCC podium and ONE&1 – Run to Camp, the new two-day partner race she and her race winning other half, Germain Grangier, have developed for April this year.

British wilderness guide, Sophie Nolan, 28, lives in Finland and splits her time between running her own backcountry ski touring business, Sidetracked Adventures, and working as a guide on a Finnish husky farm.

Below, Sophie provides a beautiful and fascinating account of cold winters spent exploring and guiding within the untouched wilderness of Finnish Lapland. Thank you, Sophie.

© Zoe Salt

New Zealand born ultra-distance trail runner, Sophie Grant, has podiumed at the renowned Transgrancanaria ultra, won the Lakes Sky Ultra race and represented Great Britain at the World Trail Championships. But rewind 10 years and she was only just entering her first half-marathon.

Sophie, who swapped London life for living out of a campervan in the mountains of Europe, chats about how she went from self-titled ‘overweight shuffler’ to successful ultra-runner, and sheds light on what a typical week of training looks like.

© Lisa Nestorson

Swiss amateur multisport athlete, Diane Sadik, competes in both swimrun and triathlon and has scooped a stash of swimrun wins and podiums in some of the toughest swimrun events out there (hello, ÖTILLÖ swimrun). Number one female in the 2017 swimrun world rankings, 30-year-old Diane has enjoyed success in both mixed and female teams.

I put some questions to her about her background, training and love of endurance sport.