7 Women - 7 Challenges came about back in October 2016 after discussions and feedback from the Tough Girl Tribe. It was decided as well as having inspirational interviews with the women who were the elite and the best of the best. I also wanted to connect and share the stores of; everyday women, real women, ordinary women, who are out their living full lives and saying yes to challenges and adventures. This would be a way to learn more about members of the Tribe and how they go about achieving their goals.
I asked the tribe to put themselves forward with their challenges and goals for 2017 and we then took a public vote to shortlist potential women who we would be interviewing for the podcast.
There were so many amazing entires it was a really difficult process to narrow it down and only select only 7! I’ve tried to be as fair as possible and have gone for a mixture of challenges and ages.
On a side note, expect more interviews with member of the tribe on the Tough Girl Podcast EXTRA which comes out on an adhoc basis every Thursday at 7am UK time.
Lets meet the 7 women!
Georgie Akin Smith is doing 12 CHALLENGES IN 12 MONTHS!
Georgie is 26 years old, living and working as a marketing manager in London. She loves being fit, active and getting outside as much as she can. Georgie has set herself 12 challenges which scare and excite her in equal measure and are all new things she hasn't tried before. She is booked in to to the Windsor Duathlon, the Engadin Cross Country Ski Marathon in Switzerland, as well as the London Marathon and the Mallorca 312! This is just an example of some of the challenges she will be completing in 2017!
Rae Red is a new runner going after her first Ultra!
In the late summer of 2016 after a fairly sustained period of life being crappy Rae was looking for something to help her with her own mental health. She started to consider running, but there were a whole host of reason to not start; she lives in a bad area, it’s not safe, she commutes for 4 hours a day so doesn't have time, she's not a runner, she has tight leg muscles, it’s too cold, it’s raining, it’s too hot....
Rae saw an article on ultra running and that was it, she signed up for the Dig Deep Ultra (30 miles). We will be following Rae on this journey to complete her first ultra!
Gemma Smith is off to climb Kilimanjaro and also plans to climb both the Matterhorn and the Eiger!
Almost two years ago she had a moment where she decided it's not worth being that person that says, 'that sounds fun but I could never do that'. Because of this change in attitude she started to believe she could do it.
This resulted in a life changing trip to Everest Base Camp in 2015 which was booked on a complete whim! Even since then, subsequent trips have been booked which have included summiting Mont Blanc in June 2016 and Mt Toukbal in the High Atlas Mountains in late 2016.
Rachel Wise is taking a gap year with her husband and 3 daughters and heading off to travel the world!
The plan is to leave in August 2017 flying from Geneva to LA. Where they will do a road trip across the States from the West coast to the East coast. From there they will head down to the Caribbean and be based in St Lucia. In November they will fly to Sri Lanka for a couple of months. Then it's onto South East Asia where they plan to spend a chunk of time in Indonesia. They are also planning to head to New Zealand for a few weeks to see the family before going onto Fiji for two months. After that its time to head back to Switzerland via LA in the Summer of 2018.
Laura Try - Rowing 1,800 miles around the coast of Great Britain, followed by rowing crossing the Atlantic in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge!
Laura is 34 years old and lives in Brentwood, Essex. She works as a Personal Trainer and Event Organiser. In June and July 2017 Laura will taking part in the Rannoch GB Challenge, which invovles rowing 1,800 miles around the coast of Great Britain with a team of 5. The challenge will take place over 8 weeks and they will be raising money for the RNLI. On competing that, she plans to take part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in December. She will be raising money for Centrepoint, the UK's largest charity for homeless 16-25 year olds.
Jen Dykxhorn will be biking the iconic LEJOG - Lands End to John O'Groats, across the UK!
Jen is a coffee-drinking, bicycle-loving, nature-loving, ukulele playing, adventure-seeking wanderer! She is a 30-year-old Canadian living (mostly) in London, UK while working on her PhD in psychiatric epidemiology.
In the summer of 2017, Jen will be biking the iconic LEJOG - with her sister. They will be leaving (approx) August 21st and be arriving in the north of Scotland around the 5th of September. Along the way, they will be wild camping (in home-sewn bivy sacks!). To finish off the adventure, they will be completing the Coast to Coast adventure race, and have signed up to do the "expert" course (all 105 miles of biking, trail running, and kayaking in one day).
Jo Jo Rogers at 52 will be training and racing in an effort to be selected for the US 50km National Team!
Jo Jo is a passionate runner and she loves to train. She is out running every day, sometimes twice a day! For Jo Jo this is an opportunity to share her story but more so to encourage other women to get out there and go after their dreams, no matter their age.
Feeling inspired week after week?
You can do 3 easy things to help me continue to grow the podcast!
- Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes, so you won’t miss a single episode
- If you’re loving the podcast, please leave a 5-star review on iTunes! I read every single comment!
- Share the podcast with your friends, especially if you think it could help them, and spread the #ToughGirlPodcast love.
Your support helps me continue to grow the podcast and do inspiring things in this space! Already done all 3? You’re a rockstar! Thank you!
Want to do more?
Please become a Patron and donate a small fixed amount every month to help fund the runnings costs.
