Anna McNuff

The daughter of two Olympians, Anna grew up in a family where the pursuit of physical and mental excellence was encouraged and led to her harbouring ambitions from an early age to become an Olympian herself. At age 16 Anna took up rowing and went on to represent Great Britain. During her time in the GB squad, Anna became World Champion at the University Games in 2006 and won a Bronze medal at the 2007 European Championships. Dogged by injury in her twenties, Anna made the difficult decision to retire from the sport and give up on her Olympic dream. She then embarked on a new life as an adventurer – travelling around the world on the hunt for new and exciting endurance challenges.

In 2013 Anna cycled 11,000 miles through all of the states in the USA, from Alaska to Hawaii. Pedalling solo and unsupported for up to 130 miles a day, she encountered blizzards, floods and temperatures as low as minus 15. In January 2015, with no experience as a long-distance runner, Anna set out on a 2,000 mile run along New Zealand’s Te Araroa trail.

By June 2015 she had become the first person to run the length of the country entirely unsupported. In October 2016 Anna began a journey to cycle along the spine of the largest mountain range in the world; The Andes. By the time she returned to the UK in May 2017 she had pedalled through some of South America’s most remote and inhospitable regions and ascended over 90,000 metres on a bike – more than ten times the height of Everest.

Anna’s talks are high energy and told with raw honesty, humour and passion. Through her speeches, Anna advocates a willingness to embrace the many obstacles that litter the road to success and to view each one as an opportunity to learn and grow.