HEAD TO HEAD
How did you get into ultra-adventure sports?
empowering one, “during the race I realised that the cancer can’t stop me,” she says. “I came away feeling powerful. Seeing that transformation is clearly more rewarding for Robyn and her team than medals and personal records, “all of our lives, we’ve been racing for spots on podiums, but now it’s for something so different, so life- affirming. For some women who are battling a medical condition, being alive is not enough. They want their juju back! Doctors can cure their bodies, but we can cure their spirits.”
Robyn is clearly an extraordinary athlete with strong mental and physical fortitude that’s taken her on a very tough but successful path to the top of her sport. However it’s her infectious positive attitude and a desire to inspire people to take on challenges they never thought they could that truly sets her apart. She’s been to the ends of the earth and is willing to share her experience with anyone that’ll listen for their benefit. She gets them moving, gets them taking on challenges that seemed unfathomable before and in this lies a truly remarkable achievement.
Activinstinct spoke to Robyn about her journey toward the top of adventure racing and got some tips on how you could get into this tough but rewarding sport.
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I was racing in ironman triathlons for 5 or so years and discovered that the more gnarly the conditions, the better I placed. So I began to look for longer, sillier events. In 1994 I read about the Raid Gauloises, “the world’s toughest adventure race” in runners world, and soon thereafter I found myself at the start line of the Raid Gauloises in Borneo with an all-female team. After 9 non-stop days of muddy, leachy terrain and death-defying whitewater, I was hooked! I’ve since competed in over 36 expedition competitions on 5 continents, from nearly every eco-challenge, to multiple raids, southern traverses, primal quests and world championships. Being on the podium for team Merrell is very cool, but the most memorable experiences come from those moments of synergy in which the team is operating as one, doing whatever it takes to get one another across that finish line.
In 2007
Robyn was diagnosed with osteoarthritis and told she may never run again, but she wasn’t going to let that destroy her adventurous spirit.
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