Sparta Chicks Radio: Mindset | Confidence | Sport | Women

In October 2019, Melissa Urie became the first woman to line up at the start of Uberman. Described as the world’s most challenging ultra triathlon, it consists of a 34km swim, 644km ride and 217km run which Mel finished - becoming the first woman to do so - in a total of 135hr 15min - that's over 5 1/2 days!  In the process, she also set a new swim course record for the event, finished second...

Uberman is described as the world’s most challenging triathlon. Consisting of 34km swim, 644km ride and 217km run, the race takes competitors from the Catalina Islands off the California coast to the trailhead at the top of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in Continental USA. Until 2019 when Melissa Urie lined up at the start, no woman had ever attempted the event. But 135 hours, 15 minutes and 55...

One of the main themes that run through many of my conversations on Sparta Chicks Radio is around the concept that “you can’t be what you can’t see”. This week’s guest is on a mission to change what you can see - and by extension, be. Mary Konstantopoulos is a lawyer who, in her “spare time”, is the force behind the “Ladies Who” media company - or dare I say growing empire - that advocates for, an...

Stacey De Bono grew up in country Victoria and, by her own admission, hated riding bikes as a kid and used to wag the school cross country carnival. Fast forward a few years and she discovered triathlon quite by accident. A friend convinced her to sign up for a race. She did, but without checking the details and couldn’t work out why the race was so expensive. It turns out the first triathlon she...

Lou discovered trail running at 43 and went onto win both her 1st 100km race and her 1st 100mi/160km race. Then earlier this year, Lou finished 2nd at the prestigious Ultra Trail Mt Fuji; the largest 100mi/160km race in the world! In this conversation, Lou and I discuss: - how she developed a passion for rock climbing in her early 30s and what prompted her to focus on running in her early 40s, - w...

Mel Nicholls was a healthy, fit and active 22 year old when, in 2001, she was struck down by a stroke. 7 years later, her 3rd stroke left her with permanent paralysis and limited function primarily in her left side. 4 years later - and just 15 months after taking up wheelchair racing - Mel was selected to represent Great Britain at the 2012 London Paralympic Games in the 100m and 200m. After repre...

Sarah Davis joined me on the podcast almost two years ago to share her plans to become the first woman to paddle the length of the Nile river. A journey of 6,853km / 4,200mi from the source of the Nile in Rwanda, all the way to Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast in Egypt, at the time we first spoke Sarah had anticipated the expedition would start in January 2018 and take 7 months. So Sarah retu...

Madhu Tamilarasan is a GP (general practitioner doctor) now living in a regional country town in New South Wales who discovered triathlons in her mid-30s and has since fallen in love with cross (or off-road) triathlons and mountain biking. She’s competed in (amongst many other races) both the Australian Cross Triathlon Championships as well as the ITU World Cross Tri Championships. A proudly gay w...

How do you achieve the seemingly ‘impossible’? That’s the core of my conversation with return guests Sarah Anne Evans and Pippa Lyon from the InternationElles this week on Sparta Chicks Radio. On a mission to raise the profile of women in cycling and to fight for equality in the sport, the InternationElles (alongside a French women’s cycling team) rode every stage of the 2019 Tour de France - one...

Michael Scragg is an experienced endurance athlete in his own right. After breaking his neck in a downhill mountain biking accident in the early 2000s, Michael made the switch to road cycling and ultimately into triathlons. Since finishing ‘dead last’ in his first Half Ironman, Michael has gone onto finish 9 Ironman triathlons as well as multiple 24-hour mountain bike races and ultra-marathons. He...

A 2x Ironman finisher, Ashley Wiles’ struggles with mental health and body image over the years inspired her to launch Sole Girls, an innovative empowerment program that shares, with girls aged 5 to 12, the tools they need for a confident, happy and healthy life. And she joins me on Sparta Chicks Radio this week. In this conversation, we dive into Ashley’s story including: - the ‘kilometre club’ a...

Nicole Bradley joined the Australian Army at 20 and served for 22 years. And admits she ‘lost’ herself in the process. However after leaving the Army, and at the age of 42, Nicole discovered the sport of powerlifting - and life hasn’t been the same since. Nicole progressed quickly and set her 1st Australian Masters Record for the bench press (she now has 3 records) in her first competition! Injuri...

Meredith Quinlan and Jess Baker are two of Australia’s best ultramarathon runners with a string of victories and records to their name. In recent years, they have begun exploring what lies beyond organised races. In 2018, their love of travel and running took them to Iceland where they ran the length of Iceland - from the northern tip to the southern tip - and set a Fastest Known Time (FKT) in the...

An elite athlete in two sports and with a PhD in athlete wellbeing, Dr Hannah MacDougall has a unique perspective on emotional, mental and physical performance and wellbeing - so I knew she’d be the perfect guest for Sparta Chicks Radio. Hannah was 9 when she set the goal to become a Paralympian. She’s now a dual Paralympian, having competed in swimming at the 2004 Athens and the 2008 Beijng Paral...

“93% Harry Potter and 7% Bear Grylls”. That’s how Paul Watkins’ website describes him. There are lots of other labels that could be applied too; Pharmacist, mountaineer, full-time dad, ultramarathon runner, motivational speaker and property developer. However, the one label that doesn’t sit comfortably with Paul is “athlete”, which is difficult to appreciate when you consider his list of achieveme...

Tils (as she is generally known) grew up in country New South Wales chasing 3 older brothers around the paddock. So it’s hardly surprising her first foray into sport was on the rugby league field. Sadly, she had to give up the sport in her early teens because once girls reached a certain age, they were no longer allowed to play against boys - and, of course - there was no girl’s league at the time...

Shelly Horton’s High School career guidance counsellor told her she was too opinionated and warned her to tone it down. Instead, she ignored him and turned it into a career! Shelly is a journalist, TV presenter and producer and her opinions can be heard multiple times each week on Channel 9 in Australia. Shelly is also not afraid of open and honest conversations about difficult topics. So I knew s...

In 2007, Bonnie Tu was the CFO of Giant Bicycles and decided to join the former Chairman who was riding the Tour of Taiwan, a 900km ride that circumnavigates Taiwan. At the time Bonnie was in her late 50s and had not ridden a bicycle since High School (and never a bike with gears!). But when Bonnie walked into a Giant Bicycles retail outlet, she was shocked to realise she couldn’t find a bike or a...

The Body Image Movement can only be described as a revolution. And it began in 2013 when Taryn Brumfitt posted a ‘non-traditional’ Before + After photo one night on Facebook. On the left, the ‘before’ photo showed ‘ripped’ Taryn on stage at a bodybuilding competition. On the right, the ‘after’ photo showed a ‘softer’ Taryn with visible rolls around her tummy looking content and happy. The switchin...

Muay Thai may, on the surface, appear to have nothing in common with endurance sports, but you might be surprised… I was certainly was when I spoke with Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu for this week’s episode of Sparta Chicks Radio. Sylvie is an American born woman living in Thailand who currently holds the record for the most number of Muay Thai fights by any Westerner - male or female - which (at the ti...

Karen Barrett has a remarkable story which reinforces for me of the power of choice and the power of self-belief. A talented runner as a child, Karen had an offer to train at the Australian Institute of Sport. But was forced to turn it down due to her difficult family circumstances. Fast forward a few years and she had become “virtually homeless” and had developed a 2-pack-a day (and more on the w...

Settle in and buckle up; this is a fun, deep, long and laughter filled episode of Sparta Chicks Radio. Tiffany Winchester is an ultra-endurance cyclist, with a love of doughnuts, who is currently preparing to ride the Paris-Brest-Paris; an iconic 1,200km endurance cycling event in France later this year. Tiff finished her first bike race as a child and then took a “25 year rest week” from almost a...

I could fill a page just listing Samantha Gash’s achievements. In 2010, and in her first ultramarathon, Sam became the first female and youngest person to complete the Racing the Planet 4 Deserts Grand Slam, running 4 ultra marathons across the driest, windiest, hottest and coldest deserts on Earth. That was followed in 2011 by a 222km non-stop race through the Indian Himalayas. It was during that...

Sarah Anne Evans and Pippa Lyon who are both members of the Veloroos; an Australian non-professional women’s cycling team. This is Sarah Anne’s second time on the podcast. She joined me with her Veloroos teammate Julie Ann Hazlett in July 2017 to talk about winning their category at the 5,000km Race Across American in 2015 ( you can find that conversation here ). In 2019, Sarah Anne and Julie Anne...

How does ocean surf ski paddling figure into one woman’s version of a mid-life crisis? We ask Quona Ross Atkinson on Sparta Chicks Radio this week! Quona grew up on a cattle station in North Queensland and started competing in rodeos, camp drafting and show riding from the time she was 3. An extensive career in barrel racing followed before she took up adventure racing in her 40s. Fast forward to...