I grew up in a small town called Palmerston North in New Zealand with plenty of Swimming, Surf Lifesaving, Football, friends, family camping and fishing holidays to keep a kid out of trouble. Surf-lifesaving was where I found my first true love in the waves and I have been boldly calling myself a “surfer” ever since.
Competing at the New Zealand National Surf Lifesaving Championships for St Clair SLSC
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.”
Going to university in Dunedin, Otago (NZ) in 2008 was where my true adventurous spirit was born. Cultivated and nurtured well by friends around me and fuelled by wanting to get off my bum and have a break from study. I remember looking out the window on many cold and dreary winter Dunedin days, choosing a hill, putting on my shoes and running out the door for hours to see if I could get to the top of it.
Otago Peninsula - picking a hill and running to the top!
In second year (and also in winter) I took up kayaking in K1 boats for fitness for my surf lifesaving in the summer months and I remember wearing almost my entire wardrobe of warm clothes to ride to and from the kayak sheds to paddle in the pitch black wintery nights. I was also introduced to some (very!) muddy and slippery mountain biking and hilly road cycles through my different circles of adventurous friends. This is probably how I have become such a lover of the mountains and hills now - the bigger the better both on the bike and running. Naturally these interests (and lack of commitment to a single sport!) led to multi-sport racing in 2010.
Peak to Peak Multisport race involving skiing, mountain biking, kayaking and running from the top of the Remarkables skifield to the top of Coronet Peak Skifield in Queenstown, New Zealand
Side step - I wanted to be a Physio and went to university with this intention, however after taking up a couple of sports nutrition papers my interests shifted to the power of nutrition in fueling human performance and maximising potential in sport and health. Physiology and the human body in health and disease or injury has always fascinated me therefore naturally after staying on the nutrition path, I continued on to being a Sports and Clinical Dietitian. This I have always used as my secret weapon in sport. I have never been the fastest, fittest, nor had the lightest gear or the most dedicated training schedule however I have the power of nutrition up my sleeve to always perform and keep up much better than I should on paper!
2012 brought my first major event Coast to Coast where I scrimped, saved, fundraised, begged, borrowed (but stopped short of stealing as the saying goes) and trained my butt off to get a car, mountain bike, kayak and other gear, pay the race entry fee and complete the 2-day event. Coming in at 9th place as a 22 year old in the Open Women category I was stoked.
Since those days I have enjoyed many smaller events mountain biking, rogaining, multisports, trail runs, three half ironman distance events and a couple of marathons. Exciting travel also got in the way of any major events but in that time I enjoyed some overseas events and cycle touring as a means of travel through Cyprus, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and now Australia. I also landed an amazing job with the British Army on their base in Cyprus for 2 years, where I was also exposed to living, training and competing in some pretty extreme heat! Travelling between NZ and Cyprus I realised the uniqueness of both hot and cold environments and despite moving to yet another hot location in Queensland, Australia I cannot say which environment I favour most for adventure!
Competing in Cyprus at “Olympus Man” the half ironman with a twist - from Sea to Summit (Mt Olympus at 2000m).
Reaching the top of Mt Ventoux, a famous road cycling climb in the middle of a 5 day cycle tour around the south of France with this awesome friend of mine
In 2018 I moved to the big brother country (to many kiwi’s like me) of Queensland, Australia. It was the surf and the weather that brought me here, especially after spending 4 months cycling and surfing around Europe earlier that year. But it has been the Hinterland and diversity of Australia that has kept me here, exploring every weekend and even some weekdays before or nights after work.
2019 brought with it new goals and challenges getting into Adventure Racing. It was also the year I established Ascent Sports Nutrition. These two ventures are where my need for a blog started. I hope to share with you a mash of my sport, local and overseas adventures and sports nutrition insights.
Enjoy!
Hiking Mt Barney - tallest South East Queensland peak