Huck X HOKA Archives - Page 2 of 2 -

How a city worker found her calling through a family history of adventure

Elisabet Barnes’ grandfather invented the modern compass, but that didn’t prevent her from feeling lost in life. Her story of reinvention is the latest in our Huck x HOKA series, looking at mavericks who found a new perspective through running.

Finding yourself alone in the middle of a desert at night with not even a mobile phone for company, let alone Google maps for navigation, would leave most of us feeling lost. But for Elisabet Barnes, it was when she finally started to find her way.

Back in London, she’d seemingly had the perfect career as a high-flying management consultant: good money, sweet benefits, strong LinkedIn profile. Yet she felt untethered, struggling to locate an inner compass she so badly needed to point her in the right direction.

“I was working really long hours,” she says. “My only focus was my next promotion. I was a top performer and had a great career path outlined – but I also felt lost. It wasn’t what I was passionate about, I got into it because it was the right thing to do, an expectation.”

Then her father died suddenly. “He just didn’t wake up one day. He was fit and I thought he had another 20 years in him. Nothing prepares you for that. It was really hard.”

Catalyst for change

This, coupled with her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis and her husband getting cancer, triggered a change. “It was the wakeup call I needed. I was just working. Life was passing me by. That was the catalyst for everything.”

She gave up her city job and entered the Marathon de Sables, an epic, but gruelling, race through the Sahara Desert, where midday temperatures clock around 48 degrees Celsius and the apparently endless dunescapes can disorient and mentally torment even the most focused of competitors.

Yet Elisabet loved it. “I just had a great time in the desert,” she says. “I felt free. The landscape is mesmerising. It’s so vast and arid, yet beautiful, and it makes you feel really tiny. You realise how powerful nature is. For the first time in my life I was doing something I was passionate about.”

She liked it so much she entered it again; she’s now run it four times and actually won it twice. Does the piercing temperature not make it an incredibly inhospitable place to run? “The heat can be tough but it’s also pretty cool to observe the effects of it as the ground gets really hot and you can see mirages or heat shimmer on the horizon,” she says.

But then handling harsh environments and framing that experience in a positive way is pretty much in her DNA. Elisabet comes from a family with world-class orienteering credentials, that is the lo-fi art of racing through unfamiliar terrain using a map and a compass. Her uncle, Jan Kjellström, introduced the sport to the UK, while her grandfather, Alvar Kjellström, was also a skilled orienteer and cross-country skier. He invented the modern compass, through his company Silva, to help him fare better at those twin passions.

Rebellious streak

Growing up in Sweden, Elisabet loved ice-skating and cross-country skiing, but as she grew older sport slipped off her radar. “I rebelled quite a lot as a teenager. Rock concerts and partying became more interesting and I fell out of sport and became a bit unfit,” she says.

Then at uni, she started running and quite enjoyed it. But after her studies, she fell into a job in a management consultancy, where the hours were long and she had to travel a lot. Soon running fell by the wayside. “Work really took over,” she says, and she soon found herself living a life which could not have been more different from that of her adventurous forefathers.

But giving up a big money career is a real risk. Did she worry she’d regret it? “I’ve taken a lot of risks to get to where I am – I left a stable career and comfortable life for one that’s more uncertain but definitely more interesting. That’s how I want to live my life. Why would I want to make safe choices and arrive safely at death?”

Instead, she revels in running through deserts in the dark. She says, “The nights are spectacular with black star-filled skies and if you’re lucky, a full moon. Running the night stage is a completely unique experience as I am often on my own during those hours. Just me, my head torch and the stars.”

Seeking peace and tranquility

During the days, she is almost hypnotised by the hostility of the desert wilderness. “I am able to draw a lot of energy from the magical environment, like the intense sun and the vast sand dunes that are almost like a sea. It provides a sense of tranquillity, yet has a very powerful energising effect if you let it. I can’t actually explain what happens, but you think the very simple life you lead there. The time for reflection helps you realise things about yourself, good and bad, and act on those.”

“You go back to basics with no shower, no WiFi and no phone. You focus on eating, sleeping, running – and surviving. This makes you see things from a different perspective, and realise what’s important in life. Okay, I never have more than three toenails intact, but I also meet some amazing people and get to travel to the most incredible places on the planet.”

Huck is a youth culture channel. It celebrates and explores independent culture — people and movements that paddle against the flow. Find out more about HUCK.

Check out the fast, tough trail running Speedgoat shoes Elisabet wears.

The burlesque dancer who became a marathon runner

Dancing in the spotlight of a burlesque stage taught Inga Poste that she could push limits elsewhere in her life too. Her journey is the latest in our Huck x HOKA series, looking at mavericks who found a new perspective through running.

A tiny stage in an intimate venue in Berlin. So tiny, in fact, the audience is within touching distance. The light is pink, not too white, not too red, exactly as Inga Poste told the technician it should be. Her act is about to start and she doesn’t know what she’ll get. If people are used to burlesque, or if they are first-timers who have no idea what to do and need to be encouraged.

“I love the first minute when you’re up on stage and you’re trying to see how people react, trying to engage them. It’s a very cool moment, because you need to open up completely but at the same time you’re playing a role. It’s a lot of fun to let go and be in that moment.”

Building up the courage

It also takes a lot of courage. Looking gracious, cool and mysterious on stage is one – pretty hard – thing, being brave enough to take your clothes off in front of an audience while still looking graceful is a special skill. But a very transferable one, according to Inga, whose second great passion is running. “Burlesque made me a lot more self confident, which transfers to running. You have to believe in yourself to be able to run a marathon. And the confidence that burlesque gave me made it possible for me to believe in myself.”

Inga, who has been running for a decade, has been focusing not so much on time, recently, but distance. She now runs marathons. Numerous medals dot her West Berlin apartment. They even adorn the dressmaking doll she uses to design her burlesque costumes. But she’s still reluctant to describe herself as a natural athlete.

In fact Inga hated phys-ed and always got picked last for schoolyard teams. But unlike other sporting Cinderellas, she didn’t use this common experience of childhood humiliation to push herself to be the hardest, the strongest and fastest. The opposite is true.

“I run for myself and I work very hard to keep it that way. When you train with other people you start comparing yourself very quickly, you see other times improving and want to improve your own time, all the time. I try to stop when I have pushed my body as far as it can go.”

Running as therapy

Running is therapy for Inga, a healthy outlet for feelings she used to suppress. She is a high achiever – she just finished her studies and works as a literary agent specialising in memoirs and in cinema. Growing up, she was always keen to meet the high expectations of others. Expressing her own desires and accepting things as they are was something she had to learn. “Through running and dancing I learnt that it can’t all be about perfection. That always makes you unhappy. After running 42 km you need to be able to be proud and say you did something amazing, even if you are somewhere near the bottom of the table.”

Inga doesn’t run to look good for others either. “I’m training my body to be fit, not for other people to like my body. It’s not about being thin, but about being strong for myself.”

A bit of extra strength obviously comes in handy for the highly athletic pole dancing she incorporates in her routines. But for Inga, dancing isn’t only about physical strength. It’s empowering for her to reclaim the rhinestones and the glitter; to take traditional notions of femininity and turn it all into something powerful by really owning it. “Burlesque taught me to be upfront with myself, when I’m on stage I’m in charge of everything.”

Powerful women

It doesn’t come as a massive surprise that a lot of Inga’s friends from the burlesque scene are also powerful women. They are strong “because they all went through something in their lives that they had to be strong for.” But there’s also a party side to burlesque, a “little girl side with sparkly things and makeup and hair.”

There is also a transgressive, challenging side to the scene. But Inga doesn’t get involved in blood, guts or gore — as do some of the more extreme artists out there. Her latest performance was all about chains. “I emerged from these chains as my act went on. I was freeing myself from something, becoming more myself. It’s like when you hit the wall in a marathon or longer run. You’re in pain; you feel trapped and as if you can’t go on. But you do go on and the feeling you get next is everything.”

Huck is a youth culture channel. It celebrates and explores independent culture — people and movements that paddle against the flow. Find out more about HUCK.

Check out the responsive and lightweight Hupana trainers Inga wears.

How running helped Lucy Campbell surf like a pro

With an eye on the 2020 Olympics, surfer Lucy Campbell is hoping her athletic instincts will pay off on a quest for gold. Lucy’s story is the latest in our Huck x HOKA series, looking at mavericks who found a new perspective through running.

When most people go surfing, they don’t have a plan. They’re out there to ride whatever waves come their way; they’re happy go with the flow. Lucy Campbell, however, has a different approach. When she goes surfing, she likes to set challenges for herself.

The 22-year-old pro surfer from Devon, who hopes to qualify for the Olympics in 2020, often tells herself: “I’m not getting out of the water until I’ve done three turns on a wave, or until I’ve done a proper carve where I’ve remembered to put my hand here, or looked back at the whitewater, or whatever.”

Measuring progression

Such a habit is a legacy from Lucy’s days as a competitive runner. She was one of the best young middle distance athletes in the UK until foot injuries forced her to quit. She still runs for fun, but one of the things she misses most about her athletics training was how easy it was to measure progression.

“I miss racing against the clock,” she says. “That feeling of improvement, of pushing yourself, and knowing next time you’re going to be better. With surfing it’s tricky to know if you’re improving.”

Her biggest frustrations with the sport are the vagaries of quantifying good surfing – the way one judge might score a wave as a 10, while another might say it’s an eight – as well as relying on the ever-shifting sea conditions. “There are so many different variables in surfing that are so far from your control,” she says, “With athletics, it was just me, my trainers and the track. Just go for it. I liked that.”

Competitive spirit

Lucy has been running for as long as she can remember. As a child, she used to race her older brothers along the beach after school. “I was always really competitive with them,” she says. “They were quite a bit older, but I still tried as hard as I could to keep up with them. I don’t think I ever really thought about the fact they were boys, I just thought I should be as fast as them.”

“I miss racing against the clock. That feeling of improvement, of pushing yourself, and knowing next time you’re going to be better.” Lucy Campbell

It’s a mentality she’s also brought to her surfing. She joined the local lifesaving club at a young age and when she was around 10, her dad took her out surfing. “I had a swimming hat and goggles on,” she says with a laugh. “He pushed me into waves and I loved it from the start.” But she’s never thought of herself as a female surfer — she just happens to be a woman who surfs.

“Growing up, there weren’t many girls who surfed on the same beach as me. So naturally, I surfed with a lot of boys; my brothers, or the locals boys that surfed. I think that helped push me as well. I just saw them doing things and thought, ‘I want to do that.’ It never occurred to me that I couldn’t.”

Headstrong and determined

Lucy’s self-belief has been key to both her running and surfing success. She once raced in the English Schools’ Athletics Championships with a searing pain in her foot – one so strong that she almost passed out. But she kept running to the end, telling herself it was only a few minutes to get through. After the race, she found out she’d been racing with a broken foot.

“Thank goodness there was something really wrong and it wasn’t just me!” she says now, adding: “But even if they’d said I couldn’t race, I probably would have done anyway.”

Being headstrong has helped with her surfing many times too. Like the time in Bryon Bay when she got stuck in a narrow channel while a big set rolled in. As the waves smashed her into some rocks, she had to stay calm and keep paddling. Eventually, she made her way to safety.

“I tried as hard as I could to keep up with them. I don’t think I ever really thought about the fact they were boys, I just thought I should be as fast as them.” Lucy Campbell

That dogged determination is an essential trait when you’re trying to be a professional surfer and you hail from Devon, rather than Hawaii, California or Australia. Instead of perfecting your moves in consistent warm-water waves under sunny skies, you’re faced with a frigid-cold wind-blown mess and trying to manoeuvre in a thick wetsuit and hood rather than a bikini or board shorts.

“It’s definitely a lot harder here as we haven’t got the same wave quality as a lot of other countries,” she says. “If the waves are good, I’ll be in for five or six hours a day. But even if they’re not good, I’ll still get in and give it a go.”

Huck is a youth culture channel. It celebrates and explores independent culture — people and movements that paddle against the flow. Find out more about HUCK.

Learn more about the FLY MACH TRAINERS Lucy wears.

From skateboarding prankster to extreme endurance athlete

What did Matthew Pritchard, Welsh pro skateboarder and all-round daredevil do next after leaving the Dirty Sanchez crew? We find out in the first profile in our Huck x HOKA series, looking at mavericks who found a new perspective through running.

Matt Pritchard was used to seeing himself look wrecked on TV. As a creator and co-star of Dirty Sanchez, MTV’s notorious noughties prank show, being filmed doing stupid stuff while drunk and high was essentially his job description.

Nostrils were super-glued together, tongues were stapled. One week he was whacked with a meat tenderiser until his skin bled, another he was slapped in the face with a cactus. He always felt fine about it. Found it funny even. Until one day he didn’t.

From carnage to Cardiff

“I saw some footage of myself on TV and I thought, ‘Christ what’s happened to me? I looked an absolute wreck and I thought that’s not the person I used to be,’” he says. “I have wicked memories of those Dirty Sanchez days, but I wanted to change. So I thought, ‘I wonder if I can do the Cardiff Half Marathon?’”

This was in 2007. It wouldn’t be the first time Pritchard had entered the event. He’d also done it at 15, when his Mum bribed him with the promise of a pair of Hi-Tec Silver Shadows if he completed the course, which he did. But it would be the first time in almost 20 years, with zero running and an insane amount of partying, or as he puts it “all out carnage” in between.

“I have wicked memories of those Dirty Sanchez days, but I wanted to change. So I thought, ‘I wonder if I can do the Cardiff Half Marathon?’” Matthew Pritchard

How did it go? “It was amazing. I got such a big buzz off it. So then I did a full marathon and then a half Ironman [a swimming, cycling and running race that ends with a half marathon], then a full Ironman …” He’s since become a full-time endurance athlete, albeit one with an incongruous amount of tattoos, who doesn’t take himself too seriously. He once ran the London Marathon in a mankini.

Shifting passions

Last year, Pritchard did a triple Ironman, that’s 54 hours of continuous and mega-intense exercise. This year, he did another double Ironman, though he’s had to temporarily shelve his other running plans for 2017 while he recovers from a foot injury, much to his annoyance.

It seems an unlikely passion shift for a former pro skateboarder. But Pritchard sees a lot of parallels between hardcore running and skateboarding. “Skateboarding takes a lot of patience,” he says. “When you learn a new trick, it doesn’t take a day, it takes week or months. But if you focus and keep going, eventually it clicks. That’s similar to training month in, month out, for a race. You have to put the hard work in to get to that point.”

“Skateboarding takes a lot of patience. When you learn a new trick, it doesn’t take a day, it takes week or months. But if you focus and keep going, eventually it clicks. That’s similar to training month in, month out, for a race. You have to put the hard work in to get to that point.” Matthew Pritchard

He also credits skateboarding with stoking his interest in endurance challenges. In 2006, he skateboarded the 192 miles from Cardiff to Newquay with his friend and Dirty Sanchez show-nemesis Dainton. “Looking back, I think it did spark a lot of other future stuff in my head. Like running from John O’Groats to Land’s End.” Which he did in 2010 — in just 30 days.

Keeping things together

Why does Pritchard think he got so extreme about running, rather than just say hitting the park a couple of times a week? “Whenever I get into something, I go all out. It was the same with partying and skateboarding. When I found this fitness buzz, I thought, ‘Where can I take this?’”

“The longer races are a massive fight [with myself], but when it gets to the pain part that’s when it gets interesting. Of course, you say to yourself, ‘What the fuck am I doing?’ But once you cross that line you’re like, ‘I’ve just been through hell, but I’ve done it and I’m fucking buzzing’.”

On a day-to-day basis, Pritchard admits he also uses running to keep his head together and regulate his mood. “I do get quite down and running gives me a high,” he says. “I get such happiness from it. If I’m feeling depressed and go for run, I come back a different person. With this injury I hadn’t trained for four weeks. I’d been partying in Ibiza and I went to a pretty dark place. I’m dangerous in my own head. But then I went out on my bike and I feel like I’m back on track again.”

“I do a lot of training and partying used to be a reward for that, but now I’ve got to the stage where I don’t even want the partying stuff. I’ve got to the point in my life that I’m having words with myself and the next step is to become teetotal.”

Positive change

What do Pritchard’s old skate buddies make of this new sporty him? “My mates think it’s great. They can see I’m doing something positive. You can’t have a problem with that without being a dickhead. And in terms of giving up the booze, the ones who’ve seen me partying over the years probably think it’s a good idea,” he laughs.

But the most pleasing part for Pritchard has been the number of Dirty Sanchez fans who’ve gotten in touch with him through email or Facebook to say they’re inspired by what he’s doing. “They message me saying, ‘I’ve followed you since I was a youngster and to see you doing Ironmans is mental. I’m going to start running too.’ It’s such a simple thing. Go buy yourself some trainers, open the front door and go for a run.”

Huck is a youth culture channel. It celebrates and explores independent culture — people and movements that paddle against the flow. Find out more about Huck.

Learn more about the innovative Clifton trainers Matt wears.