The Off the Ropes Podcast

Pursue the life of your dreams, follow your heart, find your purpose – all well-meaning, positive sentiments, but how helpful are they really? How do you follow your heart & work in the dream job when you’ve a family to support and a mortgage to pay? Can we all really just down tools and trot off on our desired paths into the sunset? Counsellor, martial artist and author, Tony Somers, believes everyone has the capability to bring about positive and transformative change in their lives, but...

Are you happy? Really happy? Or do you struggle with life’s road bumps and can’t find a silver lining when things go wrong? Former Disney executive turned author, Mark Jaffe, will provide all the tools you need to turn your blue into an ooooh! Author of ‘Suitcase to Happyness – a Roadmap to Achieve and Enjoy your Happiest Life’, Mark outlines the five barriers to happiness and shares practical and accessible advice to overcome each one. Whether you’re an Eeyore or a Tigger, this latest Off...

Paul Archer loves an adventure. But not of the serious Antarctic/Everest/swimming the Atlantic death defying kind. More of the comical, crazy, spontaneous ‘let’s travel around the world in a London taxi’ kind of expedition. An adventure with fun at its soul. The sort of loony trip you might dream up whilst having too many pints in the pub; an idea most of us would leave there. Not Paul and his pals, who took that idea and made it happen! Two years later, the adventurous trio buckled up in...

How does it feel to be the first woman to summit Mt Everest’s 29035ft from the north and south side? To experience the astonishing feat of standing on the highest point on earth knowing others have lost their lives trying? Is the answer to life’s problems waiting at the summit? Hear author, speaker, adventurer and mountaineer, Cathy O’Dowd recount her experiences on Everest and share with you valuable life lessons learned climbing some of the world’s toughest peaks.

Labelling Paula Reid a 'polar explorer and around the world sailor' is somewhat of a disservice. To accurately describe her in one summarisable sentence is almost impossible! Paula's 'Live life to the full' motto has enabled her to accomplish 117 (and counting) life-changing activities on her 'living life list' including: a 10 month voyage around the world (the wrong way!) by yacht (with no experience!); a six week trek to the South Pole (succumbing to excruciatingly painful 'polar thigh’...

‘Dream Big’! Two life-changing words which have taken Mel from multiple stroke sufferer to multiple world record holding wheelchair racer. And beyond! Hospitalised for heart surgery following her third stroke, Mel passed the time mesmerised by the athletes competing in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. Previously a competitive sports-woman, Mel was determined to maintain an active lifestyle and love of sport, undeterred by disability. She immersed herself in any disability sports she could...

In 2009, Nathan Millward hopped aboard a second-hand Australian Post bike called Dot, in Sydney, and rode 23,000 miles through 18 counties, arriving back in the UK nine months later. Travelling at an average speed of 36mph, and beleaguered by visa delays, suspicious locals, dwindling finances and an aging, often unwilling motor-cycle, Nathan's soul-searching adventure was far from a jolly bike ride through stunning, previously uncharted landscapes. In fact, the endeavour seemed to cause more...

Liv Williams, adventurer, film-maker and author, joins Victoria on the Off the Ropes podcast to discuss her beautiful and thought-provoking new book, ‘Chasing the Elements’ which explores the mind-set, heart and soul of extreme sports people from the world of BMX, surfing, free-diving, skate-boarding, free-running and more! This conversation is so much more than a book promotion! Liv radiates wisdom and compassion and will leave you wondering why you’re here and how your life can impact...

Pacific rower, Natalia Cohen, will inspire you to seek more, do more and be more. One member of the Coxless Crew – a team of 6 super adventurous women who rowed 9000 miles across the Pacific Ocean in a 29ft boat called Doris, Natalia oozes positivity, enthusiasm and tenacity. Skills which were thoroughly tested when the planned 6 month voyage became 9 months due to unforeseen technical difficulties and petulant weather. Hear Natalia enthusiastically describe her magnificent voyage, how...

If you believe your days of adventuring or taking on a new hobby are well & truly over, or that you need to be a pup to push yourself physically, today’s guest will hopefully make you reconsider! Actually, several of our guests should have already smashed this preconception. Masha Gordon is a two-times Guinness World Record holding mountaineer, an activity she turned her attention to only 7 years ago. 7! In those few years she has become the fastest woman to scale the 7 Summits (the...

Dave Cornthwaite took his conventional, meaningless life, turned it upside down, inside out and shook it vigorously. Creating a life which is fulfilling, liberating and enormously enjoyable. A serial adventurer on a mission to inspire others, Dave’s list of awesome accomplishments is huge and every-growing. To date, he has skate-boarded across the entire length of Australia, pedal-kayaked across the Baltic Sea, swam 1000 miles of the Missouri river, and stand-up paddle-boarded 2400 miles of...

British adventurer (and accomplished knife-thrower) Laura Bingham spent six months cycling 7000km across South America without money to not only test the limits of her mental and physical endurance, but also to test the kindness of strangers of whom she’d be replying upon for food and shelter. An enormous, daunting challenge which took Laura through the Amazon jungle, the desert, over the Andes (3 times!) and across the spectacular Bolivian salt-flats. As with all awesome adventures, Laura’s...

If you had the choice of whom to sit next to on a long train journey, would it be the person who excitedly wants to tell you all about his circumnavigation of the world via pedalo; what he learned about himself, what unexpected hurdles he encountered; and what life-changing adventure he’s considering next? Or, the person who can’t wait to show you his new phone, watch or bag; to fill you in on the minute details of his latest ‘must have’ possession; how much it cost; and how hard he needs to...

If you’ve ever thought it’s too late for you to achieve something epic, Mimi Anderson will force you to reconsider. Mimi began running when she was 36; to assist in her recovery from anorexia, and to help her re-discover her purpose and identity. Although, initially, only able to run on a treadmill for a few minutes without heaving for breath, Mimi is now one of the world's most accomplished and decorated long-distance runners. To date, Mimi has run the entire length of Britain and Ireland...

Colin O’Brady’s life is teeming with exceptional achievements. A younger-than-average Yale graduate, former Wall Street trader, US triathlete and now a two-times Guinness World Record holding mountaineer, for becoming the fastest person to climb the Seven Summits (seven of the tallest mountains on each continent), plus trekking to the North and South Pole as part of the notoriously tough Explorers Grand Slam. Only 50 other people have achieved the feat, and Colin annihilated all previous...

How does it feel to sky-dive onto a moving car? To land on top of a hot air balloon? Or, sky-dive with the world’s smallest parachute? Find out in this week’s Off the Ropes Podcast with multiple Guinness World Record holder, aerial stunt-man and sky-diving pro, Ernesto Gainza. A man who knows exactly how to live off the ropes! Topics Discussed:

James Ketchell is going to make you question what you believe is possible in life. Seriously injured in a motor-cycle accident, and narrowly avoiding leg amputation, James proves that incredible opportunities and experiences in life are there for our taking. Undeterred by the prognosis of never being able to walk properly again, James Ketchell not only went on to make a full recovery, he rowed the Atlantic, climbed Everest and cycled 18,000 miles around the world, to name but a few of his...

Emma Timmis is a woman with extremely itchy feet and a burning desire to discover what adventure lies around the next corner. The first woman to run almost 1500 miles of South Africa’s Freedom Trail, Emma has also cycled across Malawi, run 2500 miles from Namibia to Mozambique, and - an advocate for adventures not needing to cost the earth - she has also roller-skated across The Netherlands, just for fun! Emma describes herself as just a normal person who believes awesome adventures are...

If you’ve ever considered taking on an epic adventure but feared you lack the requisite skills, Sally Kettle will allay your concerns. Restless after university and uncertain in what direction to take next, Sally accepted a seemingly random challenge set by her boyfriend of the time, to row the Atlantic. Sally was not a seasoned rower. Worse, her mother stepped in to join the adventure and she’d never even rowed a boat. Ever! The pair went on to row 3000 miles across the Atlantic, receiving...

Sean Conway has been described as Britain's answer to Forrest Gump for his love of setting himself seemingly insurmountable endurance challenges: he’s cycled around the world - with a fractured spine; was the first person to swim from Land’s End, on the UK’s south-west coast, to John O’Groats, in Scotland - via Ireland! And has recently completed a 4200 mile ultra-triathlon around the coast of Great Britain which he described as the ‘toughest 85 days of my life’. Off the Ropes? You...