Jessica Mullins and her teammates rowed the Atlantic at the beginning of 2022, taking part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

It's been dubbed the 'World's Toughest Row': a 3,000 mile mission from La Gomera, Spain to Antigua. It is an extreme endurance race dubbed one of the most challenging endurance races in the world.

Jessica was the Skipper and Project Manager of their four mixed team, IN DEEP SHIP and she put their international team together two years ago.

Overall, they raised around £70,000 to run the campaign and donate to their chosen charities on the challenge. We spoke to Jessica about why she decided to take it on, what it was actually like, and how it feels to have completed it... plus gained a World Record!

CHAPTER MARKERS:
0:00: Introduction to Jessica
1:31: What inspired the challenge
4:00: Recruiting the team
6:03: What the training was like
7:58: What a typical day was like
9:33: What helped get you through?
12:33: How was it nearing the end of the challenge?
15:15: How it felt to finish
16:55: Raising money for 3 charities
19:51: Advice for others
23:14: Winning a World Record
26:15: What does defiant optimism mean to you?

Find out more about the team: https://www.indeepship.com/
Donate to their chosen charities:
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/indeepship
https://www.crisis.org.uk/
https://www.covenanthousebc.org/
https://www.anthonynolan.org/

Follow Jessica: https://www.instagram.com/jessicammullins/

In 2011, Yvonne Booth designed and created the '10 in 10' challenge – to climb 10 peaks in 10 hours in the Lake District.

She designed it as a response to her husband Duncan’s diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis in 2010 at the age of 39. Multiple Sclerosis is a debilitating neurological disease with no cure. As a wife and mother, she wanted to do something positive and help raise money for research into this cruel illness.

Since then, Yvonne has run the event once a year – raising money for the MS Society UK. The challenge now sees hundreds of fundraisers climb 10 mountains in 10 hours, and she has also introduced the option to climb 5 mountains in 5 hours.

We caught up with Yvonne to find out more about the event, what it's like to undertake, and how you can get involved.

CHAPTER MARKERS
1:19: How the 10 in 10 came about
6:14: Why climbing mountains?
8:13: What it's like doing 10 in 10
9:57: How people get through it
11:43: Raising money for MS Society UK
15:14: Reaching each peak
16:34: The 2022 challenge
17:51: Advice for others
20:01: What does it mean to Duncan?
21:23: What does defiant optimism mean to you?
23:11: Where to find out more
23:42: Closing remarks

Find out more about the 10in10: https://10in10.org.uk/who-we-are/
Support the MS Society UK: https://www.mssociety.org.uk/

Annie Brooks is an award-winning blogger, who has been on a mission to raise awareness of her condition. She has epilepsy in the form of complex, simple and absence seizures. She was only diagnosed in 2012 after years of unknowingly suffering – she can be wide awake, but essentially, experiencing something ridiculously scary and unable to communicate.

Before lockdown, she started doing 12 challenges in 12 months, to increase awareness of epilepsy. "My story is unique, and I hope inspirational, in that despite having a condition like this, you can still live a full active life, including doing triathlons," she says.

In this episode, she speaks about the challenges she did and which ones were the hardest, as well as why the mental challenge was sometimes more difficult than the physical ones.

CHAPTER MARKERS:
1:16: Inspiration behind the challenge
3:26: Preparation
6:03: The physical challenges that pushed me
8:51: The mental challenges to get through
11:05: Finishing the 12 in 12 challenge
13:57: Raising awareness of epilepsy
15:34: Advice for others
20:02: What does defiant optimism mean to you?
20:58: What's next for Annie?

Follow Annie's journey: https://www.talesofanniebean.com/
Support Epilepsy Society: https://epilepsysociety.org.uk/