In this episode I have the pleasure of chatting with Bethan Taylor- Swaine. Bethan is a PhD student at Birkbeck,  University of London where she studies the representations and identities of women in ultra running. 

This episode we delve into what it means to be a woman in sport, the history of how we are encouraged to participate. How early years sports can be taught through shame and humiliation and how men are better facilitated to achieve success.  That essentially men still dominate sport and are also the gatekeepers to it.  We chat though how the female body is seen and still policed within sport. How we are hyper sexualised in the media and how this impacts how we participate. 

Women still receive messages around how and why we should be moving our bodies. Bethan believes short termism and low priority in policy change is why things are slow to change. The broadcast media's interest and commentary of female athlete's are still geared around their physical body, personal life and sexuality.

Bethan walks me through ultra running, what it means to her and how she participates,  she beautifully describes ultra running as a moving picnic. She unpicks some of the myths and my beliefs around  participation. We discuss Bethan's research and how ultra running is not as much an elite sport as you may imagine. Bethan advocates for the participation of physical activity for all. We discuss the common approach to sport and how it can be from the emphasis on high performance, metrics and stats.

Bethan is also a wellbeing consultant and she gives me a formula for stress and energy and we talk about awareness and why there needs to be a culture shift in how we approach rest. 

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