Everything Endurance

The Montane Winter Spine Races 2023 begin on Saturday 15th Jan, and in honour of this EPIC event, we thought we better make an EPIC podcast. Welcome to our Spine Race Special. Over the festive period, whilst many people were packing in mince pies and wrapping presents, the runners about to take part in #BritainsMostBrutal race were busy thinking about the 268-miles of non-stop racing waiting for them in the new year. And that's just those on the full-length edition. Across all 5 race classes, there were over 500 runners passing a nervous New Year thinking about the Pennine Way. This seemed like the perfect time to call them up and try and distill a little of that pre-race tension into a special edition of Everything Endurance. In this episode, you'll find past podiumers, record holders, and Spine legends. There are short interviews with Anna Troup, Damian Hall, Ellie Eccles, Eoin Keith, Elaine Bisson, James Leavesley, Sharon Gayter, and the legendary Bobby Cullen. We talk through their motivations, their approach to preparing, their tips for first-time Spiners and more. Obviously, we couldn't cover all the runners we wanted to across all the races. Check out the Ultrarunning Sam podcast though as Sam has also been interviewing Spiners recently and picked up a couple of people we weren't able to: https://www.youtube.com/@ultrarunningsam For ease, here are the time-stamps of each interview: 06:15 Anna Troup 28:50 Damian Hall 46:10 Ellie Eccles 01:03:09 Eoin Keith 01:19:33 Elaine Bisson 01:34:25 James Leavesley 01:42:12 Sharon Gayter 02:07:08 Bobby Cullen - Apologies for the slightly lower sound quality during this interview.   

Sabrina Pace-Humphreys is an ultra-runner, a mother and grandmother, a founding member of Black Trail Runners, and now the published author of 'Black Sheep: A story of Rural racism, Identity and Hope'.  Sabrina will shortly be toeing the line at the Summer Spine Race 2022. In an episode, Will and Sabrina chat through her whole journey from starting out as a runner in 2009, to her first contact with ultra-running, the creation, and reason behind the creation, of Black Trail Runners, and her preparations for the Summer Spine Race.  We learn what helped motivated Sabrina to begin this running journey and why she thinks so many others could benefit from starting on a fitness journey of their own. Cover photo --> Roxanna Barry

Helen Murray is the producer and host of the wonderful InsideTri Show and, along with husband Richard Brown, recently completed the Highland Ultra, our brutal 125km, 3-day race around the West Highlands of Scotland. In this episode, we talk through their experiences in the Highlands, their transition from Tri to Ultras, the lessons they've taken from ultra-running, and the triathlon wisdom that helped them along the way. Listen to Helen's own episode on the Highland Ultra and you'll learn how you can get a discounted entry for next year's race: https://www.insidetrishow.com/episode/highlandultra

Everything Endurance is back after a busy few months of putting on epic events. Will returns with a guest who has made a habit out of appearing on podiums of high profile Ultra races over the last year or so, the indomitable Simon Roberts. Simon Roberts spent the race-free period of the pandemic honing his skills, doing his homework, and generally transforming himself into a race-winning-machine. In this episode he talks Will through his first footsteps into ultra running and how about his experience of winning the Dragon's Back, The Montane Spine Challenger - North, and the Cheviot Goat. We also introduce our new charity partner: https://www.bigmoosecharity.co/

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all you listeners! In this shorter episode, Will and Kris end the year with a long-overdue Christmas catch-up.  A chance to talk about the harder parts of running a global race series during a pandemic, but also to talk through the positive things that have happened in that time including the Highland Ultra, the Summer Spine Race, and Will finally finding the time to rewatch every episode of Lost. As a special little Christmas gift, Kris has set up a discount code for all listeners to use in the BTU Store.  For 10% off just enter EVERYTHINGENDURANCE10 at the checkout. https://store.beyondtheultimate.co.uk/ See you in the New Year, everyone! Will

4 years and 76 episodes have gone by since we last spoke to today's guest, ultra-runner and coach Robbie Britton. Robbie has wracked up a successful running career in which he has run across countries, run 24hr events for Team GB, win the BTU Ice Ultra, and support some seriously talented runners through his elite coaching.  Now he's taken that knowledge and refined it into 1001 Running Tips, a running guide with something for everyone. In this episode, Will and Robbie talk through some of the tips to be found within and reflect back on 4 years of chatting to awesome adventurers. Grab 1001 Running Tips here: https://www.v-publishing.co.uk/books/running/1-1-running-tips/ Learn more about Robbie: http://robbiebritton.co.uk/

On 14th October, Tom Garrod started the 253mile Lon Las Cymru Ultramarathon, a grueling race from the north to the south of Wales.  When he reached the finish line, he turned around and raced back to the start alone - all to raise money for Kings College Hospital in memory of Mark Thornberry, a well-known fellow ultra-runner who sadly passed from liver cancer last year. 17 years earlier, Tom was diagnosed with stage IV testicular cancer and given a 5% chance of survival.  In this episode, we hear all about his story of defying those odds and the journey afterward that led him into his amazing achievements as an ultra-athlete and his efforts to raise awareness of testicular cancer. Learn more at https://bustinyourballs.org/ Donate to his Double Lon Las fundraiser here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/doublelonlascymru4thorners Please Note - COLOURFUL LANGUAGE WARNING - there are a few expletives in this interview.

Pedal4Parks was an 'eco-adventure' in which Isaac and 4 fellow adventurers cycled from Orkney to the Scilly Isles, visiting as many of mainland Britain's National Parks as possible on the way, and interviewing people involved in projects which will help to regenerate these precious green spaces and find ways for all of us to live more sustainably in the future. The result was a unique feat of endurance and a documentary which is being shown this weekend at COP26, the UN Conference on Climate Change.  Watch here at 9:30am on 6th November: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJlvsGJAR8NsiyLzuBf_cQg In this episode we talk to Isaac about his early days in adventure and the challenges he and his team faced in planning and executing the Pedal4Parks project. Learn more about Pedal4Parks here: https://pedal4parks.co.uk/ Listen to Mind the Green Space podcast here: https://pedal4parks.co.uk/podcast/

Just over a month ago, Doug Zinis headed up into the Lake District peaks and took on a double Bob Graham Round.  The Bob Graham is a 66 miles (106 km) route with 26,900 feet (8,200 m) of ascent which Doug would need to complete before turning around and returning on the same route to his start/finish point in Keswick. Doug managed this feat in 45hrs and 3 minutes, a new fastest known time for the challenge.  In this episode we chat to Doug about taking up running at 28, his recent journey into ultra-running and the planning and support that goes into this kind of challenge. We also have a windswept update from Kris King up in Knoydart preparing for the Highland Ultra.

We know Nick Butter already as the Man who Ran the World (ep34). Today he is the Man who Ran Britain having recently completed a record-breaking 5200+mile run around the coast of Britain. After initially setting out to run the equivalent of 200 marathons in 100 days, Nick had to battle through injuries and obstacles to complete his mission in 128 days. We'll hear all about those trials and tribulations as well as the joy of so closely exploring Nick's home country. We'll also hear all about the 196 Foundation, the new charity project Nick was publicising out there on the trail. Learn more at: https://www.the196foundation.com/