© Benedict Tufnell

Ironman UK? Check? Multi-stage desert ultra? Check. Ultra-duathlon? Check. Endurance sport enthusiast, Mara Hafezi, has notched up an impressive list of fitness firsts just this year alone. Better known by her social handle of The Fit Londoner, Mara, who is a communications specialist by day and personal trainer on the side, chronicles her endurance adventures on her blog of the same name.

Fresh from completing the 5-day, 260km long Wadi Rum Ultra in southern Jordan a few weeks ago, I quizzed Mara about how it felt to complete her first ever multi-stage desert race.

When a crash in training at this year’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics left GB snowboarder Katie Ormerod with broken heel it kick-started a nine-month journey featuring multiple operations, complications and a skin graft. As one of Britain’s genuine Olympic medal hopefuls, Ormerod (who was the first female in the world to nail a backside double cork 1080 at the age of 16) had to process the mental effects of crushing disappointment as well as the physical challenge of being unable to weight bear.

Now almost recovered, the 21-year-old Roxy slopestyle athlete reveals the mental and physical challenges she’s faced along the way and how, almost 10 months on, she’s coming back stronger.

© Magnes AG/Styx Powermeter

British multi-sport athlete, Flora Colledge competes in long distance triathlon and duathlon. Earlier this year, the Team GB athlete had great success in the Xtri series of iron distance triathlon events, taking a win at the Swissman Xtreme Triathlon (which includes riding the Furkapass!) and a third place podium at the brutal Norseman Xtreme Triathlon.

Flora, who is based in Switzerland, gives us an insider look into her swim-bike-run training and shares her plans for 2019, which include the Xtri World Champs! Enjoy the read.

© Jon Williams

Regular blog readers will remember my chat with journalist and adventurer Pip Stewart earlier this year, when Pip was gearing up for a world-first attempt to paddle the length of Guyana’s Essequibo River. Since then, Pip and expedition teammates Laura Bingham and Ness Knight successfully became the first people ever to paddle the Essequibo from its source in the Acarai Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean – a 1014km journey. *High-five*

To catch-up on her Essequibo adventure, Pip managed to squeeze me in for a chat ahead of her talk at Kendal Mountain Festival tomorrow. We chatted about the challenges of remote jungle expeditions, being open about fear and how, after contracting leishmaniasis, she’s on a mission to raise awareness of the flesh-eating disease.

The list of brutal events that Amie ‘live wire’ Spade has to her name makes for impressive reading and includes Death Races, Survival Runs, a 277-mile multi-stage race and a team podium at the freezing 24-hour Spartan Ultra Beast World Championship in Iceland. All of which will stand her in good stead for her next big challenge: to run Ireland’s 1553-mile Wild Atlantic Way and set a fastest known time.

Amie is running to raise money for Nerve Tumours UK, a charity which supports sufferers of the genetic disorder, Neurofibromatosis, which causes tumours to form on nerve tissue. The cause is particularly close to her heart as her partner, Adam, has Type 1 Neurofibromatosis.

Here, I quiz the 39-year-old dryrobe ambassador (who is secretly very shy!) on her toughest challenges, her mental grit and how she’s training for her biggest run yet.

©ParalympicsGB

Paralympic silver medallist and Downhill World Champion, Millie Knight, began losing her sight when she was a year old following an eye infection. As her vision deteriorated she discovered skiing and fell in love with the sport, quickly graduating to world class downhill and giant slalom ski events.

Millie, who skies with her guide, Brett Wild, is a two-time Paralympian and most recently took two silver medals and a bronze at the Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang. A hugely inspiring young woman, Millie chats about her training, juggling uni with athlete life, and how she’s still working to overcome fear and anxiety following a serious 70mph crash in training.

© Ben Cirulis

Former firefighter Jacqui Allen is a British cross triathlon silver medallist who competes in XTERRA triathlon, the ‘off-road’ discipline which sees athletes race on mountain bikes and run off-road. A regular on the XTERRA podium, Jacqui lives with her husband, leading XTERRA athlete, Ben Allen, in Wollongong, Australia, where they have a coaching business.

I caught up with Jacqui, who is an ambassador for running brand, On, over the phone where we chatted about her career in XTERRA triathlon, tough tempo sessions and mid-race mountain bike mechanicals.

© Red Bull/Toby Ziff

I’m super-pleased to welcome Shauna Coxsey back on the blog, this time for a longer interview. As GB’s most successful competitive climber and a two-time bouldering world champion, Shauna is usually found suspended in a gravity-defying position on a climbing wall (or doing fingertip hangs on the Beastmaker), however, she kindly made time to answer my questions about her climbing career and training.

Today, Shauna chats about climbing’s Olympic debut, reveals what a typical week of training looks like and shares her favourite places in the world to climb. If you’re left wanting more, don’t miss Shauna speaking at the Kendal Mountain Festival later this month in association with Entre-Prises. It’s guaranteed to be a good one.

Climber, mountain biker, surfer and all-round outdoors enthusiast, Jenny Collett, spends most of the year outside thanks to her job as an outdoor pursuits instructor. When she’s not coaching or teaching, the MTB enthusiast is snatching some time to head to the mountains and trails on her bike.

Jenny is a former downhill competitor and has also ridden in some of MTB’s most epic events, including the Megavalanche, which starts on the snowy summit of Alpe d’Huez. Her love of riding has landed her an ambassador role for e-bike brand, Lapierre, so I threw some questions her way about her riding, e-bikes and coaching.

© Ben Tibbetts/Salomon

Two-time world champion sport climber and three-time world cup winner, Liv Sansoz, has bounced back from serious climbing and base-jumping accidents an incredible number of times. Last year, to mark her 40^th birthday, the French alpinist embarked on a challenge to summit all 82 of the 4000+m peaks in the Alps – a journey that’s documented in the brilliant Salomon film, LIV Along the Way.

I’m very excited to have Liv on Lessons in Badassery ahead of her talk at next month’s Kendal Mountain Festival*. In this interview, Liv chats about the highs and lows of her 82 peak project, overcoming multiple injuries, and the tragedy of losing close friends on the mountains.