© 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.

© ParalympicsGB

A track athlete from a young age, Kadeena Cox was a promising sprinter when she suffered from a stroke at the age of 23. Just four months later, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), a condition where the immune system attacks the brain and nerves. An intense rehabilitation period followed, and whilst using a Wattbike as part of her rehab, Kadeena discovered she had a naturally impressive power output.

Spotting her talent, British Cycling snapped her up, and incredibly, just 18 months later, Kadeena joined Team GB at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. Competing in athletics and cycling, she made history with gold medal wins and new world records in the T38 Athletics 400m and the C4 Cycling 500m TT, becoming the first Briton since 1984 to podium in two different sports at the same Games. Fast-forward to today, and Kadeena is a four-time Paralympic gold medallist, most recently setting a new world record in cycling’s C4-5 500m Time Trial at the Tokyo Olympics. 

In this Q&A, EatLean ambassador Kadeena talks through her MS diagnosis and its impact on her performance, plus she shares more about the KC Academy, which she’s set up to help improve diversity and inclusion within cycling.

British golfer Mel Reid first picked up a club at the age of 11. By 13, she’d been scouted by England Golf, and by 21 was playing as a professional. Now living in Jacksonville, Florida with her fiancée Carly, the 34-year-old ellesse athlete has seven pro wins to her name, including the LPGA’s ShopRite Classic in 2020. 

A passionate campaigner for inclusion and equality within the sport, Mel chats about the challenges women golfers face regarding sponsorship, plus we cover the physical training required to be a first-class golfer, the mental focus required, and more. 

Photo: Rini Sugianto

Ultrarunner Elizabeth Crow’s passion for running inspired her to write a bucket list of endurance adventures in her thirties, but it wasn’t until more than a decade (and two kids) later that she felt inspired to take on the challenges that excited her soul. First came a marathon. Then, ultras followed. And last month, Elizabeth completed her first 100-mile ultra event, adding to her list of race finishes which include the Zion 100K, Javelina Jundred 100K and Race to the King’s 53-miler.

In this email Q&A, California-based Elizabeth shares more about her running journey, alongside her training and tips for would-be ultrarunners. Plus, if you’re after healthy meal inspiration, I highly recommend hopping over to Elizabeth’s Instagram, where she shares recipes and pictures of her delicious meals alongside her training and racing photos.

Today, I’m thrilled to bring you a Q&A with the incredible Jacky Hunt-Broersma, an ultrarunner who’s currently on a mission to run 100 marathons in 100 days in a bid to inspire others and raise money for the non-profit charity Amputee Blade Runners. Jacky lost her leg to cancer (Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer) when she was 26 and runs wearing a prosthetic. She hopes that the funds she raises during this incredible running challenge can be used to give other amputees, including children, the opportunity to be active.

No stranger to ultra-distance events, Jacky has completed multiple ultramarathons and even set a world record in 2020 when she became the first amputee to run 100 miles on a treadmill. All this, and she only began running six years ago!

Now on marathon 38 out of 100, which she fits in alongside coaching work, professional speaking and parenting, Jacky is due to finish her momentous marathon running challenge on the 27th of April. Please do visit her charity giving page here: www.gofundme.com/f/100-marathons-in-100-days.

Thank you for the inspiration, Jacky!

© Mikayla Lyles

I’m thrilled to have American ultra-endurance cyclist Sam Scipio on Lessons in Badassery today! Sam discovered cycling at college, and since her twenties has raced cyclocross, road, crit, gravel and mountain bike. However, she’s most at home riding a single-speed (no gears!) mountain bike a very long way on gnarly terrain with unreasonably high levels of elevation gain.

In 2018, Sam was the second woman across the line and sixth overall at the Trans North Georgia Adventure mountain bike race – a 357-mile self-supported race featuring 56,000ft of elevation, which she completed on a single-speed MTB. A year later, she joined the adventure racing team, Team Onyx, and took on Bear Grylls’ gruelling Eco-Challenge in Fiji, a non-stop adventure race covering 400 miles of jungle, mud-clogged trails, rivers and mountain passes, on foot and via climbing, mountain bike, raft and paddleboard. Significantly, Team Onyx made history as the first all-black expedition racing team.

A designer by trade, Sam has recently launched her bike frame building business, Jubilee Manufacturing, so check out her website at Jubileemfg.com. In the meantime, have a read of our email Q&A, where we cover Sam’s journey into cycling, her go-to strategies for low moments, and her experience preparing for and taking on the brutal Eco-Challenge.

When travel writer Amy Aed was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease at 15, she knew little about the incurable autoimmune disease. Getting to grips with her diagnosis and its day-to-day impact on her health was a struggle, but six years on, with dreams of completing an expedition, Amy hatched an epic plan: to become the first person in history to walk the length of the Danube River, from source to sea. 

The 1770-mile journey takes in ten countries and sees Amy walk around 35km a day. Having started her journey on the 1st September 2021, she currently has four countries still to cross and is due to finish her challenge in February, although she’s currently resting due to a hip injury.

I caught up with her via email to find out more about her Danube adventure.

©  @FuryPhotography

It’s a brand new year, and I’m thrilled to have Australian CrossFit pro Kara Saunders as my first interview of 2022! Kara has been a fixture on the CrossFit scene for over a decade, notching up nine CrossFit Games appearances, including a second-place podium spot in 2017. In 2019, she welcomed her first child, daughter Scotti, into the world (check out Kara’s Instagram to see Scotti join her in their home gym), and less than six months later, she came 12th in the 2020 CrossFit Games Open.

Last year, after placing third in the 2021 worldwide open, Covid then got in the way – literally – as Kara contracted the virus in July whilst in transit from Australia to the 2021 CrossFit Games in Madison, Wisconsin. Still suffering from the after-effects (which included reduced lung capacity), she was forced to retire early.

I caught up with the inov-8 athlete over email to chat about her reflections on the past year, what her training looks like with a toddler in tow, and how she juggles being an athlete, parent and business owner.

© Morgan Maassen

Growing up on a remote island in French Polynesia, surfing was a fun, family pastime for Tahitian surfing champ Vahine Fierro. Despite not competing until the age of 14 (when she moved to Tahiti for high school), she quickly became one to watch, and within a year, had surfed Teahupo’o – widely considered one of the world’s heaviest and most dangerous waves. (Incidentally, also the location for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games surfing competitions). 

At the age of 18, on a wildcard entry, Vahine was crowned Junior Pro World Champion. Then, at 19, she won Surfer Magazine’s Best Barrel (women) award. Now she has her sights set on achieving Rookie of the Year in 2022.

Once you’ve read our Q&A, check out filmmaker Morgan Maassen’s short film, Goddesses, below, which goes behind the scenes of Tahitian life for Vahine and her surfing sisters, Heimiti and Kohai.

I last caught up with ultra-endurance cyclist Amanda Coker in 2018, hot on the heels of her record-breaking HAM’R (Highest Annual Mileage Record). You can read the interview here, but to summarise, Amanda rode an average of 237 miles every day for 365 days in order to smash the highest annual mileage record (male and female), clocking up an incredible 86,573.2 miles. Then, instead of taking a well-earned day off to celebrate, Amanda continued riding for an additional 58 days to break the 100,000-mile record, ticking off this immense milestone in a total of 423 days.

Fast-forward to the 23^rd of October this year, and Amanda rode herself into the record books once again, this time by breaking the women’s 24-hour distance record. Riding a 28-mile out-and-back route on open roads in Florida, USA, Amanda cycled 512.5 miles, obliterating the previous women’s record by 73.5 miles, and in the process making history as the first woman to break 500 miles in 24-hours. Not only that, but despite the shorter records not being her main focus, the 29-year-old American broke the following ten records* on the way: fastest 100km, 100 miles, 200km, 200 miles, 300km, 300 miles, 500km, and 500 miles, as well as new distance records for 6 hours and 12 hours. Phew!

I caught up with Amanda to get the lowdown of how it all happened.