Talks

Check out our first line-up drop of 2024

Inspiration, Education & Transformation. 

Spark your imagination at a whole host of talks and workshops from world-class speakers including athletes, practitioners, authors and scientists. 

One previous attendee told us it made their mind feel like it was a recharging battery (and another told us it inspired them to quit their job when they returned home on Monday). Up to you how you interpret those statements, but we think it means it’s all pretty special.

More coming soon...



  • The World We Live In
  • Being Human
  • The Search For Adventure
  • Transformation & Change
  • Ordinary People doing the Extraordinary
  • The Life-Changing Magic of Moving
  • Taking The Alternative Path

Lucy Bartholomew

Talks

Lucy Bartholomew
ABOUT

Hi! My name is Lucy Bartholomew, I am 27 years old from Australia. I ran my first 100km with my Dad at the age of 15 and haven’t stopped running since. I am sponsored by Salomon and chase summers and start lines around the world. Some of my bigger accomplishments include 1st at Ultra trail Australia 100km on my 21st birthday, 3rd place at Western States 100mile in 2018, 1st Tarawera 100mile in 2023 and 10th at the UTMB 100mile in 2023. 

I am well known for being a plant based athlete, a smiley runner and getting away with very little planning but a lot of stoke.

Billy Yang

Talks

Billy Yang
ABOUT

Billy Yang, a trail and ultra running aficionado, is a renowned filmmaker and storyteller, weaving captivating narratives through the lens of his camera. 

From conquering challenging terrains in races like Western States to documenting the profound human connections fostered on the trails, Billy's work transcends the sport. 

His passion for both trail running and filmmaking has made him a respected figure, inspiring a global audience with the beauty and camaraderie found in the world of trail running.

Andre Coggins

Talks

Andre Coggins
ABOUT

Andrew Coggnis is the founder of Mafia Moves, a community of people that happen to run together, created from a number of significant role models, with the idea to engage the upcoming generations through movement.

We don’t just run, we share experiences, educate, support and empower each other while covering the importance of physical and emotional wellbeing. We focus heavily on building identities, helping identify their potential, and altering the socioeconomic barriers many people face within their communities.

The ethos of Mafia Moves is to get the whole community to explore something different through positive engagement and movement.

Hillary Allen

Talks

Hillary Allen
ABOUT

Hillary Allen is an accomplished trail runner, athlete, and motivational speaker known for her indomitable spirit and resilience.

Overcoming a life-altering fall during a race that resulted in severe injuries, Hillary has defied the odds to not only recover but also continue pushing the boundaries of her athletic pursuits.

Born with an innate passion for the outdoors, Hillary's journey into trail running has been characterized by determination and a love for the mountains. Her story is one of triumph over adversity, showcasing her unwavering commitment to pursuing her dreams despite facing significant challenges.

Hillary inspires audiences with her powerful narrative of overcoming setbacks, embracing fear, and finding strength in vulnerability. 

Her engaging talks resonate with individuals from all walks of life, encouraging them to persevere through their own challenges and reach new heights.

Ryan Sandes

Talks

Ryan Sandes
ABOUT

41 year old Ryan Sandes is a local and international trail running sensation, competing on all corners of the globe.

He was the first person to win all 4 races in the 4 Desert Series and in 2013 became the first person to ever winan ultra trail race on all 7 continents. In 2011, Ryan won the Leadville 100 miler mountain race in Leadville, Colorado, setting the 3rd fastest time in the history of the race and the fastest time by a non-American – it was his first 100 miler.

He is an ambassador of the prestigious Laureus Foundation and special mention about his phenomenal career was made at the International Laureus Awards in Abu Dhabi. 

Ryan’s biography, Trail Blazer, written by Steve Smith, was launched in English in 2016. In 2017 his book was translated into Spanish – the 2nd most spoken language on earth. What started out as a “passion project” turned into a best-selling book.

One of his greatest victories was in 2017 when he won the Western States 100 known as the world’s oldest 100 miler. At the beginning of 2018 Ryan and a friend, Ryno Griesel, set a new trail running record on a section of the Great Himalayan Trail through Nepal. An eye-watering time of 25 days 4 hours and 24 minutes was set on a combination of the high and cultural route on the GHT. A distance of 1,435km was covered, which the men ran virtually non-stop, climbing 63 721m in elevation gain which is the equivalent of climbing 7.5 Mount Everest’s.

Ryan is a doting father to son Max, as well as their adopted fur-child, Thandi and he has been married to his actress/business-woman wife, Vanessa Sandes for 8 years.

 People are inspired not only by Ryan’s athletic ability but also his humble and down-to-earth approach to life. He is a highly sought after motivational speaker and is considered one of the world’s leading ultra trail runners.

Cameron James

Talks

Cameron James
ABOUT

Cameron James is an ex GB Pole Vaulter turned movement, yoga and breathwork coach.

Movement Decoded is a mixed medium style practice that draws upon refined technicality and spontaneous adaptation to create an environment fit for physical awareness and flow.

Decoding our subtle expressions : Encoding a broader awareness.

Sophie Power

Talks

Sophie Power
ABOUT

Sophie is a GB ultrarunner, mum of three and Founder of SheRACES. In 2010 she signed up for the Marathon des Sables, never having run more than a mile and has since run over 40 ultramarathons all over the world, from Bhutan to Iceland, including Spartathlon and the Summer Spine. 

Sophie came to the world's attention with a picture of her breastfeeding her 3 month old baby, whilst running the 106 mile UTMB. Since then she has advocated for womens' rights in sport, founding SheRACES, a campaign to make races better for women which has had a global impact. 

At the age of 41 she won her first GB vest and most recently finished top Brit at the 2023 24 hour World Championships.

Mark Shayler

Talks

Mark Shayler
ABOUT

Mark helps big companies think like small ones and small companies think like big ones. 

He works on innovation of products, services and business models; he works on sustainability and company purpose; and he coaches businesses and individuals. 

He has saved his clients in excess of £160 million per annum through environmental improvements, has increased sales of products by 8000% by introducing circular economy business models and trained over 2000 people in sustainability. 

He has worked for Patagonia, EE, Nike, Coca-Cola, Seedlip, Unilever, Hotpoint, Samsung, John Lewis, Fenwick, Teapigs, Bacardi, Diageo, Mars, Thorntons, 3M, Amazon, Panasonic and hundreds of funky 
little businesses like Propercorn, Teapigs, Hiut Denim, and Ugly Drinks. 

He was a lead for the RSA Great Recovery programme of Circular Economy and was once the Head of Environment for ASDA. 

He is a Founding Partner of the Do Lectures and author of three books: You Can’t Make Money From a Dead Planet (Kogan Page), Do Disrupt/ change the status quo or become it and Do Present/ How to give a talk and be heard (Both Do Book Co.). 

He is a coach, workshop facillitator and Qi gong teacher. Mark is also part of the Reasons to be Cheerful team, which he co-founded in in 2020.

Anya Culling

Talks

Anya Culling
ABOUT

Anya is a professional elite athlete, sponsored by lululemon and has represented England over the marathon distance. Her sharp rise to running success during the covid lockdown saw her go from a marathon time of 4hrs 34 mins in 2019, to a current PB of 2hrs 34 mins knocking off 2hrs. 

Anya is a qualified LiRF running coach and her sessions will be specifically designed to help give you the tools to become a stronger, better and more resilient runner.

Trina Dawkins

Talks

Trina Dawkins
ABOUT

Trina is a blogger and ultra-runner who uses her platform to support and inspire new and established runners and anyone who wants to improve their health and wellbeing through movement or just to try out something new. She also wants to make sure that women and girls are not excluded from the fulfilment and benefit that taking part in sports can bring.

Ryan Stephens

Talks

Ryan Stephens
ABOUT

Ryan Stephens is a Mindset & Well-Being Mentor, Ultra-Marathon Runner & Podcast Host from Swansea who is on a mission to change the world through empowering people. 

Ryan has a unique story, from setting up a business at the age of 19, going through mental health challenges and ending up in prison at the age of 21, to building communities for people to connect with others and improve their well-being and delivering talks, coaching and mentoring to over 10,000 people to-date. 

Ryan has also ran multiple marathons and ultra-marathons, most notably a 100-mile ultra-marathon in June 2023, after falling short on the two attempts before it. Lastly, Ryan is a strong advocate for challenging yourself, pushing boundaries, spreading positivity and connecting with nature – which he will be helping you to do at Love Trails Festival 2024!

Merlin Hanbury-Tenison

Talks

Merlin Hanbury-Tenison
ABOUT

Merlin is the Managing Director of the Thousand Year Trust, the only charity in the UK dedicated to restoring our Atlantic temperate rainforests. 

His mission is to catalyse the movement to triple the amount of rainforest growing across the British Isles. Starting in Cornwall, these vibrant, unique and vital habitats will spread back over our western reaches to return balance to the natural world and to remind us all that we are a part of nature, not apart from it.

Hilary Yang

Talks

Hilary Yang
ABOUT

Hilary Yang is an award-winning photographer, graphic designer, writer, videographer, creative director, and she’s been a competitive ultra runner for the last decade. 

After quitting her corporate job to go back to art school in her late 20’s, she has since pursued an unconventional career as a female outdoor creative that allows 
her to combine her passion for endurance running with visual storytelling. 

Her over-arching goal is to challenge others to push outside their comfort zones, both through her work and her own adventures around the world.

Emma Stuart

Talks

Emma Stuart
ABOUT

Emma Stuart is a relative newcomer to the sport but has packed quite a bit into the last five years, including wins at the Lakeland 50, Lakeland 100, the Arc of Attrition, Ultratrail Snowdonia 165 and most recently TOR330, amongst others. 

She juggles running long distances with working full-time as a farm animal veterinary surgeon on the edge of the Lake District and loves spending time outdoors. She is particularly interested in training the mind for long distance running as well as trying to increase female participation in endurance events.

Simon James

Talks

Simon James
ABOUT

Simon is an International Mountain Leader, Alpine Trail Running Guide and Running Coach sharing his time between the Alps around Mont Blanc and the Chilterns in the UK. 

In 2013 he founded Run the Wild which was one of the first companies to offer scheduled guided trail running holidays and events. This was on the back of an expedition to an 8,000m peak in Nepal and completing the UTMB. 

Since a young age he has been passionate about the outdoors and sharing it with those around him, despite having major hip surgery. 

He is an outdoor instructor in Switzerland and Tanzania, guiding on Kilimanjaro and Meru and facilitating community projects for International Schools. 

As a consultant for Love Trails Festival on the run leader training program. He has experience in all weathers and temperatures, with adventures reaching from Alaska to the baking heat of the Sahara. 

He shares his life with his wife Karin, also a running guide and coach as well as their two dogs Bailey and Lottie.

Michelle Flynn

Talks

Michelle Flynn
ABOUT

Michelle is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Practitioner, Certified International Health Coach, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach with a Gut Health Certification, Experienced Life Coach and Mental Health in Recruitment Ambassador. 

Michelle works with individuals and companies to help them understand their health and happiness goals: healthy diet, weight loss, reducing stress, increasing exercise, better quality of sleep, improved relationships, financial stability and exciting careers.

The Encouragement Farm

Talks

The Encouragement Farm
ABOUT

JoJo and Barrie Thomson are the co-founders of the Encouragement Manifesto. 

Four years ago we closed our coffee shop/deli to make room for new ideas and adventures. We sold our house and bought a van, travelling in Europe before buying a small, neglected farm in rural France. To help us take stock of the experiences, we wrote down the values embedded at the heart of our life, the things folk can expect to feel when they hang out with us. We turned the Manifesto into a programme of free mentoring for people who need a burst of positivity and enthusiasm. 

It feels like Encouragement is our superpower. We think it is yours too.

Mark White

Talks

Mark White
ABOUT

Mark White is the Founder of Run Grateful & Your Town Runners Mark is known as a creative, an ideas man, a go getter, a keen runner,  mindful mover & someone who wants to impact the world in positive ways. 

A proud moment was in 2019, when Mark was voted in the top 15 social entrepreneurs in the UK by Red Bull, through his community work with Your Town. 

Mark has since gone onto to creating a global movement with Run Grateful.

Mark is also a proud father to his two amazing daughters Sienna-Rose and Grace and his dog George! 

With over 21 years’ experience of living a sober life, Mark has learnt a great deal on how to manage his physical and mental health as he navigates his way through life.

Bethan Taylor-Swaine

Talks

Bethan Taylor-Swaine
ABOUT

Bethan Taylor-Swaine is a feminist sociologist of sport who advocates for inclusion and diversity in sport. Bethan's PhD thesis explores the representations and Identities of women in ultra-marathon.

Inspired by the idea that women could outrun men and that ultra-running could offer a more level playing field, Bethan wanted to see if it was true. Beyond her academic research, 

Bethan is committed to changing how we talk about running to encourage as many people as possible to enjoy the sport, creating conversations through thought-provoking content that gets people thinking. 

Oh, and she likes to run.

Jessica Holmes

Talks

Jessica Holmes
ABOUT

Jessica Holmes is an adventure traveller who housesits full time 
around the world, paying no household bills or rent. Looking after other peoples’ homes and pets led her to quit her job as a major crime investigator in the police and has enabled her to do more of what she loves; hiking, writing and travel. 

She has written a book, “The Housesitter’s Guide to the Galaxy”, which is a guide on how to housesit successfully around the world, whilst being an eco-conscious traveller.

Steve Tonkin

Talks

Steve Tonkin
ABOUT

Steve Tonkin is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Dark Skies Advisor to both
Cranborne Chase International Dark Sky Reserve and the Federation of Astronomical Societies. 

He has been passionate about astronomy since childhood, and taught astronomy to adults and children for more than 40 years. 

He writes equipment reviews and a monthly Binocular Tour for BBC Sky at Night Magazine, and will talk about the importance of responsible lighting to anyone who will listen.

David Kam

Talks

David Kam
ABOUT

David is the founder of kindredpacket, a grassroots non-profit organisation uplifting East and South East Asian (ESEA) communities through joyful activism, intergenerational storytelling and the decolonisation of wellness. As a core member of Britain’s East and South East Asian Network (besea.n), the organisation who initiated ESEA Heritage Month, David is working on a book alongside his peers highlighting UK-centred ESEA advocacy and activism. Within this capacity, David also delivers Active Bystander Trainings across the UK in collaboration with Protection Approaches to combat identity-based violence.

David Kam is a Malaysian movement artist, educator and speaker sharing queer practices of freedom and connection grounded in the philosophies of yoga, dance and architecture. He pitches movement as an expression between party and protest, a brave space #beyondasana to celebrate the joy of play and agency to combat oppression and cultivate collective care. David is currently an Activist in Residence at King’s College London researching the intersections of movement, migration and digital technologies while he continues to work across leading dance and wellness institutions, prioritising marginalised communities in London and abroad. 

Mickey James

Talks

Mickey James
ABOUT

Dr Mickey James is the founder of Girls To The Front and a children’s health and wellbeing research officer at Swansea University with a doctorate in human and health science. 

Specialising in the health and wellbeing of young people, her work encompasses play,  physical activity, and co-production, ensuring that young people have their voices heard. 

As the founder of GTTF, she aims to empower young girls to use their voice, take up space and be their own brand. Through in-person functional fitness sessions, Zine workshops and health and wellbeing education, Mickey provides safe and inclusive environments that prioritise autonomy, fun and a DIY ethos.

 From coaching to researching to living life, the goal is to break boundaries and rewrite the rules.

Matt Bagwell

Talks

Matt Bagwell
ABOUT

Matt is the co-founder of the movement project, Oxygen Advantage™ Master Instructor and Chief Marketing Officer of the revolutionary decarbonised data centre company Deep Green. He is also an ultramarathon runner. n 2024, Deep Green raised £200million to deploy their unique Data Centres across the UK. As an exemplar of a generative business, each decarbonised data centre recaptures heat from compute to heat public swimming pools, for free.

Matt coaches thousands of people worldwide in breath training, and wellbeing more generally, everyone, from elite athletes including Team GB duathletes cycling and football teams to companies to one-to-one clients, seeking ways to improve performance, focus and creativity, and recovery.

Matt also is a qualified EMCC Global Transformational coach, encouraging people as they make significant transitions in life.

In 2021, Matt ran 22 back-to-back ultramarathons across very county of England, raising awareness and over £53,000 for the Campaign Against Living Miserably, a charity focused on male suicide prevention.

Owen Pillai

Talks

Owen Pillai
ABOUT

Owen is a movement coach who’s passionate about meeting people where they’re at, to help them get where they want to be.

Founder of the Anti Gym Gym Club whose mission is to remove the barriers that conventional 
approaches create.

At the core of his coaching is play, drawing on his experience as a coach in strength and conditioning, running, gymnastics and physical literacy to create fun, challenging ways to make the rest of your life the best of your life.

Tina Afiyan Breiova

Talks

Tina Afiyan Breiova
ABOUT

Tina is a movement teacher with a background rooted in dance, Qi-Gong and mindfulness meditation. 

She has shared her research and teaching of movement alongside artistic and athletic performance with leading academic institutions and at workshops around the world to professionals and enthusiasts alike. 

Tina's teaching adapts content and context to everybody, prioritising a soft approach to failure with playful and sincere explorations of primary movement principles.