Tough Girl Podcast: Keri Wallace - Founder & Mountain Leader at Girls on Hills. Skyrunner, fellrunner and ultrarunner encouraging more women to hit the trails and venture into the mountains. Shouting about equity and inclusivity in trail running.

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Keri Wallace - Founder & Mountain Leader at Girls on Hills. Skyrunner, fellrunner and ultrarunner encouraging more women to hit the trails and venture into the mountains. Shouting about equity and inclusivity in trail running. 0

Mar 2, 2023

Keri Wallace is the founder & guide at Girls on Hills, the UK’s only trail, fell and skyrunning company for women. After her second child, Keri decided to quit the desk-job and find a way to combine her passion for mountain running with flexible working, so that she could fulfil a life goal and be mum to two toddlers at the same time.

Keri in her own words:

“I started Girls on Hills with my colleague Nancy Kennedy in 2013, as a way to encourage more women to try trail and fell running. It was a terrifying leap of faith and a dream-come-true rolled into one. It felt like the opposite of a mid-life crisis though; like I’d finally found the confidence to stand up and do something I should have done a long time ago. But I had no idea whether it would take off!

We only ran a handful of courses the first year but it soon became clear that there was a real appetite out there for the kind of freedom and empowerment that comes with this type of running – across all ability levels.

I love guiding women around the rocky hills of Glencoe, helping them build the confidence and skills they need to become more independent in the mountains (usually a simple case of revealing how much they are already capable of!) Mountain running is such a multi-faceted sport, with benefits that reach out and touch all other areas of your life.

As Girls on Hills has grown over the years, we have learned more about the barriers that many women face, across all levels of our sport, from beginner access, right through to elite-level racing. Today we advocate strongly for equity and inclusivity and seek to increase female participation in technical and ultra-distance events, where the gender gap is greatest.”

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Show notes

Who is Keri
Growing up in Cornwall
How she ended up living in Scotland
Playing a lot of traditional sports when she was younger
The women who have inspired her
Working as a science teacher in her 20s
Getting into climbing
Making a transition from being a teacher to working in the outdoor world
Doing the 3 peaks challenge in 24hrs
Getting into running
The challenges of doing her first mountain marathon
Training for races and how it’s changed over the years
The Trans Alpine Run
The mental side of running challenges
Info for new mums who are running
Losing her mojo for running
Getting anxious about racing
Wanting to push herself on her own terms
Not being able to stick to a fixed program
Creating Girls on Hills in 2018 with Nancy Kennedy
Helping to break barriers down and encourage more women into running
Working as a champion for She Races
Talking about confidence
Reassuring women who run
Sky running and technical mountain running
Fastest Known Time (FKT) for the Glencoe Round
Women FKT - Women with a goal to flip the FKT statistics. Highlighting women’s FKTs everywhere. IG @womenwhofkt
Why it’s not about the time with FKTs
Role models in running
How to connect with Keri
Final words of advice to help you get out of the door and go running