Juliette Denny: From Football to Ultra Running - Embracing Challenges and Inspiring Inclusivity in the Outdoors. Running the South Downs Way and Completing Her First Ironman in Barcelona.

Tough Girl Podcast

Juliette grew up playing football but after the loss of a close friend in 2017, she turned to running as her coping mechanism. Over the past five years she's developed a love of hiking, trail running and cycling and has taken them to the extreme, running multi-day ultramarathons through the desert, completing an Ironman, travelling through Patagonia for two months and last year she she was part of the all female BTR team at Adidas TERREX Infinite trails race in Austria.

Juliette is passionate about improving access to the outdoors for women and young people, particularly those from diverse backgrounds. She’s an active member of the Black Trail Runners community and her experiences out on the trails led to her being chosen as the cover star of Women's Running Magazine in April 2023.

Join us as we delve into Juliette's inspiring journey and her mission to make outdoor adventures more inclusive for everyone.

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Show notes

• Who is Juliette
• Her passion and love for spending time in the outdoors
• Playing football to a high level before starting her running journey
• Getting into football from a young age and being supported by her family and parents
• Not being able to play on the boys team anymore after the age of 11
• Joining an all girls team and winning the league every year for 5 years
• Gaining a sense of winning from football
• Building a confidence in herself
• Wanting to become a professional footballer and reflecting back on how things have changed
• Being supported and encouraged by her parents
• Thinking through the different options
• Deciding to move away from football and going in a different direction
• The final game
• Finding out a good friend from school was diagnosed with a brain tumour
• Wanting to raise funds
• Deciding to do something big in 2017
• Thinking about running the South Downs Way
• Having a team of 6 people running the South Downs Way
• All the emotions and being able to lean on people
• How running can help you
• Running for Laura
• Being a little underprepared, but pushing on through
• Needing to have a big challenge in the diary and having something to work towards
• Deciding to do Ironman Barcelona
• Getting the gear for an Ironman
• Cost of entry to races..
• The realities of training for an Ironman and the time commitment involved
• 10 Ironwomen - Striving for a 50:50 Gender Split in an Ironman Event.
• Giving herself the best possible chance of succeeding
• Why it was a rollercoaster of emotions on the day of the Ironman
• The challenges during the race
• Being supported by friends
• Saying yes for big challenges
• Plans for 2024 The Eiger Ultra Trail
• Getting excited for Hyrox Competitions
• Wanting to inspire women and girls to get active in sports
• Women in Sport
• Self confidence and belief in yourself
• The importance of trying something new
• How to connect with Juliette online
• Imo Boddy - Record for 3 peaks - female fastest known time (FKT) to complete the UK Three Peaks
• Black Trail Runners
• Final words of advice and why it’s not that easy to just do it
• Just start. Take the first step

Social Media

Instagram: @juliette_dennyy

Tik Tok: @juliette_dennyy