© 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.

British pro surfer Lucy Campbell fell in love with surfing at the age of ten when she hit the waves under tuition from her dad and brothers. Fast-forward 13 years and the 23-year-old Devon native is a now a three-time British Champion competing on surfing’s World Qualifying Series circuit.

Here, the Dryrobe ambassador chats about her running background, training week and Olympic hopes.

© Christian Jung

Annabel Anderson is one of those athletes whose career highlights are too numerous to squeeze into a couple of paragraphs. An icon in the world of paddleboarding, the 37-year-old has won multiple SUP world championships and has been the world #1 for for six years straight, winning – outright – some of the sport’s most notorious races. And that’s just the world of stand-up paddleboarding, never mind the elite mountain biking, cycling, triathlon and skiing accolades she has accumulated over the years.

The New Zealand-born athlete is currently recuperating after suffering her second serious concussion of the year, along with some pretty horrific injuries following a ski accident, but very kindly answered my questions in her down time. Thank you, Annabel. It’s a pleasure to have you on Lessons in Badassery!

After discovering her husband had incurable stage four cancer, amateur age group triathlete Natarsha Tremayne (AKA IronTarsh) made it her mission to complete 12 Ironman branded events and gain a Legacy entry to Kona. Now, with nine Ironman finishes to her name, she’s well on her way to achieving her Kona Legacy goal.

When she’s not training or racing, Tarsh is busy designing stand-out cycling apparel via her brand Stomp The Pedal (her stylish, colourful designs have been spotted on numerous triathlon pros). Here, I quiz Tarsh about her Ironman beginnings, training and motivation.

©swissultra

Claire Smith likes to test her limits. Her interest in pushing the boundaries of Iron distance triathlon started a decade ago and has led the Brutal Events founder to take on the kind of next-level challenge which finishes with a 262-mile run. Yep, last year Claire completed the ultimate endurance test: the swissultra Deca triathlon. That’s ten times the full ironman triathlon distance: swimming 24 miles, then cycling 1120 miles, and finally (how?) running 262 miles. Continuously.

The Deca triathlon is a sanity-questioning distance. So why did she do it? How did she do it? And why is she planning to be the first British woman to complete what she considers to be the toughest of the Deca challenges, the one-day Deca (more below), in November? I quiz the 43-year-old self-titled ‘back of the pack plodder’ to find out.

She’s a surfing sensation who, despite being just 15-years-old, is a force to be reckoned with on the surf scene. Meet Juliette Lacome, Roxy pro surfer, French national champion, and winner of this year’s 2018 Roxy Open at Boardmasters.

Ahead of travelling to the ISA World Champs in California, Juliette joins me on the blog to chat about her career in surfing, how she juggles it with her studies, and her future hopes of Olympic selection.

Fresh from competing in the ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championship earlier this month, swimrun athlete Rhian Martin joins me on the blog. A former GB triathlete, Rhian also represented Wales in duathlon and swimming before work in investment banking led her to leave competitive sport. Fast-forward to today and Rhian and her husband, Ben, are a force to be reckoned with on the swimrun scene, ranking third overall in the mixed category world rankings.

Rhian, who now runs her own personal training business, chats to me about her love of swimrun, how she and her husband juggle training with the school run, and the crazy swimrun conditions she competes in.

British kitesurfing champion, Sukie Robertson, fell in love with kitesurfing at the age of ten and has spent the last 15 years competing in the freestyle and wave riding disciplines. In 2014, Sukie opened her own kite school, 514Elemental, with boyfriend Robin, where she coaches up-and-coming talent.

Here, the 30-year-old Dryrobe ambassador, who was crowned 2018 British Wave Champion at the British championship last weekend, fields my questions about everything kitesurfing.

In July, a group of 13 women lined up to start riding the entire Tour de France one day ahead. Known as the Donnons des Elles Au Velo J-1, their aim was to highlight the absence of a female equivalent of cycling’s biggest bike race, The Tour de France, and to prove that if 13 amateurs can do it, the pro female peloton is more than capable. Amongst the women (all of whom were amateur cyclists with fulltime jobs) was Spanish sports scientist, Anna Barrero.

In this Q&A interview, Anna chats about the highs and lows of riding 3351km over 3 weeks – including the challenging 1am bedtimes.

As the Skyrunning World Championships are well underway in Scotland right now, one woman in particular, Lauri van Houten, will be busy working hard behind the scenes, the place she likes best. As the VP and co-founder of the International Skyrunning Federation (ISF), Lauri has been instrumental in growing the sport of skyrunning over the past 25 years ago.

In this Q&A, Lauri chats about everything skyrunning and explains how it all began with mountaineer and skyrunning founder, Marino Giacometti’s Monte Rosa summit, in 1989.