17-year-old Lilyella Craw-Seaman carried a 43lb rucksack as she took on the Pen Y Fan in the latest instalment of the Fan Dance Race Series. More than 300 people took part and Lilyella was the first female across the line.
Lilyella carried a 43lb rucksack to the top of 2907ft Pen Y Fan in Wales, ran down the mountain, then turned round and did it all over again. She completed the brutal 15-mile route, designed to weed out the weak in SAS selection training, in just four-and-a-half hours. Afterwards, Lilyella said the trek, known as the Fan Dance, was the greatest challenge of her life!
During this podcast we learn more about Lilyella, why she enjoys doing challenges, her motivation and her drive to make sure she always give her best and goes after every opportunity.
Show notes
- Her first passion, swimming & swimming competitively from 5 years old
- Finding out about her family
- Liking to win!
- Balancing school work with swimming and why boarding school helped
- Waking up at 4am, to swim for 2 hours before school and swimming again in the evening
- Where she gets her drive from
- Why swimming makes you mentally strong
- Her proudest moment swimming
- Being 14 and making the Scottish Senior Team
- Competing internationally in Germany
- The start line, what’s going through her head
- Keeping her composure while racing
- Her race tactics
- Why it’s important for her to stay calm, especially at the start of the race
- Having a strong finish at the end
- Making a transition into the mountains and how it came about
- Alba Military Fitness
- Who Dares Cares
- The Fan Dance Challenge!
- Telling her parents about the challenge!
- The race, her bag, the route, the distance, the start
- Crossing the finish line!
- How working as part of a team helped her to achieve this goal
- Future challenges she wants to get involved in!
- Wanting to join the Army
- Why failing has made her stronger
- Advice for other girls out there who want to get involved in sports and doing challenges
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