It’s no wonder they call her Iron Gran. At the age of 76, Edwina Brocklesby is the UK’s oldest female Ironman triathlete and the driving force behind her charity Silverfit
06/16/20 • 55 min
In this fifteenth episode of the season of the Her Spirit podcast BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin and BBC Triathlon presenter Annie Emmerson talk to Eddie Brocklesby AKA Iron Gran and founder of Silverfit.
Eddie’s personal drive to get fit was spurred on by her husband Phil's sudden death in his fifties. Phil was diagnosed with colon cancer, which had progressed into pancreatic cancer. Being active and running with my friends helped me dramatically after I lost my husband at such a relatively young age. When I started swimming, at 56, I couldn’t do front-crawl at all and swam breaststroke with my head above water like most women of my age. When I could swim properly, I could start doing triathlons, and from there I entered the Ironman competitions.”
Eddie has now undertaken 10 Ironman challenges – which is made up of a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and then a marathon – and finished six of them.
Known as Iron Gran by many, her fantastic children and grandchildren think a more apt name would be Mad Gran. But her advice would be to make the best of your life – and have fun.
The impressive Eddie launched her charity Silverfit in 2013 to promote sport for older people. It began with running events in London’s parks and has since swelled to 2,000 members at 17 venues across nine boroughs. Silverfit goes into areas of economic deprivation, where they know they can make a difference, Last year they had 23,000 attendances and 60% of their members tell them they now exercise for at least 90 minutes each week.
These podcasts have been made possible through the support of Medichecks www.medichecks.com and Sport England www.sportengland.org.
For more information on Her Spirit go to www.herspirit.co.uk and sign up and download the Her Spirit app. It's FREE till the end of June 2020.
At Her Spirit, we’re building a FREE global community designed exclusively for women’s activity.
Join us to connect with like-minded women, discover events, and find local groups that inspire you to move more.
✨ Find your tribe. Achieve your goals. Thrive together.
👉 Join the movement at https://www.herspirit.co.uk/
It’s time for You
Join us at herspirit.co.uk | Instagram | Facebook | Get the Her Spirit App
In this fifteenth episode of the season of the Her Spirit podcast BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin and BBC Triathlon presenter Annie Emmerson talk to Eddie Brocklesby AKA Iron Gran and founder of Silverfit.
Eddie’s personal drive to get fit was spurred on by her husband Phil's sudden death in his fifties. Phil was diagnosed with colon cancer, which had progressed into pancreatic cancer. Being active and running with my friends helped me dramatically after I lost my husband at such a relatively young age. When I started swimming, at 56, I couldn’t do front-crawl at all and swam breaststroke with my head above water like most women of my age. When I could swim properly, I could start doing triathlons, and from there I entered the Ironman competitions.”
Eddie has now undertaken 10 Ironman challenges – which is made up of a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and then a marathon – and finished six of them.
Known as Iron Gran by many, her fantastic children and grandchildren think a more apt name would be Mad Gran. But her advice would be to make the best of your life – and have fun.
The impressive Eddie launched her charity Silverfit in 2013 to promote sport for older people. It began with running events in London’s parks and has since swelled to 2,000 members at 17 venues across nine boroughs. Silverfit goes into areas of economic deprivation, where they know they can make a difference, Last year they had 23,000 attendances and 60% of their members tell them they now exercise for at least 90 minutes each week.
These podcasts have been made possible through the support of Medichecks www.medichecks.com and Sport England www.sportengland.org.
For more information on Her Spirit go to www.herspirit.co.uk and sign up and download the Her Spirit app. It's FREE till the end of June 2020.
At Her Spirit, we’re building a FREE global community designed exclusively for women’s activity.
Join us to connect with like-minded women, discover events, and find local groups that inspire you to move more.
✨ Find your tribe. Achieve your goals. Thrive together.
👉 Join the movement at https://www.herspirit.co.uk/
It’s time for You
Join us at herspirit.co.uk | Instagram | Facebook | Get the Her Spirit App
Previous Episode
Adventurer, speaker and mischief maker Anna McNuff talks about cycling the Andes, running barefoot across Britain and challenging herself to show everyone what is truly possible.
In this fourteenth episode of the season of the Her Spirit podcast BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin and BBC Triathlon presenter Annie Emmerson talk to adventurer, motivational speaker, influencer and author Anna McNuff.
Anna, a British born adventurer, motivational speaker, influencer and author. She was recently named by Condé Nast Traveller as one of the 50 most influential travellers of our time, and by the the Guardian as one of the top modern female adventurers . She is also proud to be the UK Ambassador for Girl Guiding, and the co-founder of Adventure Queens; the UK’s fastest growing women’s adventure community.
She is best known for her recent attempt to run the distance of 100 marathons through Great Britain, in her bare feet.
The daughter of two Olympian’s she grew up in a family where the pursuit of physical and mental excellence was encouraged. Seeing the respect and admiration that her parents received led her to me harbouring ambitions from an early age to be an Olympian myself.
As a middle sibling sandwiched between two brothers, she could often be found down the local BMX track, up to her armpits in mud or playing football in the local boys’ team. Growing up, she simply did what the boys did because it’s all I knew. By aged 16 she had moved on from football, and taken up the sport of rowing, where she went on to represent Great Britain. During her time in the Great Britain squad, she became a World Champion at the University Games in 2006, and won a Bronze medal at the 2007 European Championships.
Dogged by injury in her twenties, she made the difficult decision to retire from the sport and to let go of my Olympic dream. She then embarked on a new life as an adventurer – darting around the world on the hunt for new and exciting endurance challenges.
She talks to Annie and Louise about her passion for cycling and adventures such as cycling the Andes. We love her saying "Just give it a bash" and her attitude for life.
These podcasts have been made possible through the support of Medichecks www.medichecks.com and Sport England www.sportengland.org.
For more information on Her Spirit go to www.herspirit.co.uk and sign up and download the Her Spirit app. It's FREE till the end of June 2020.
At Her Spirit, we’re building a FREE global community designed exclusively for women’s activity.
Join us to connect with like-minded women, discover events, and find local groups that inspire you to move more.
✨ Find your tribe. Achieve your goals. Thrive together.
👉 Join the movement at https://www.herspirit.co.uk/
It’s time for You
Join us at herspirit.co.uk | Instagram | Facebook | Get the Her Spirit App
Next Episode
Radio DJ and TV presenter Jo Whiley talks about her passion for music, love of swimming, menopause and getting into triathlon last year with Annie and Louise.
In this sixteenth episode of the season of the Her Spirit podcast BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin and BBC Triathlon presenter Annie Emmerson talk to Jo Whiley, Radio DJ and TV presenter.
Arguably one of the most recognisable voices in British Broadcasting, Jo Whiley has had an exciting and varied career and is considered one of the nation’s favourite radio DJs. Jo was born in Northampton. After studying in Brighton and dabbling on BBC Radio Sussex’s new music show, her first broadcasting job was as a presenter for WPFM, Radio 4’s youth culture and music show. She then moved over into TV, initially on satellite, then to Channel 4 as band booker for ‘The Word’, giving Britain its first television taste of bands such as Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine.
Jo joined Radio 1 in the Spring of 1993 and in September she became permanent co-presenter of The Evening Session with Steve Lamacq. Four years later she landed her own daytime show, and remained part of Radio 1’s weekday line-up until 2009, when she began a new weekend programme. Jo currently presents her evening show Monday - Thursday on Radio 2.
Jo has also presented coverage of the Glastonbury Festival on Radio 1, Channel 4 and BBC-TV, plus she’s hosted several music programmes for Channel 4. Jo is a celebrity ambassador to Mencap, a UK charity that works to support people with learning difficulties. She hosts the Little Noise Sessions concerts, in aid of the Mencap charity enlisting the support of many well-known international music artists. Jo is also a supporter of Tommy’s - The Baby Charity and the Patron of the Cri du Chat Syndrome Support Group.
Jo talks about how she got into triathlon after a call from Louise in 2019 and has gone on to complete her extremely demanding triathlon challenge for Sport Relief in 2020, in which she did three triathlons in three days in three different cities and raising money for Sport Relief.
She talks about her love of swimming, menopause and life in lockdown with her husband Steve and 4 children.
These podcasts have been made possible through the support of Medichecks www.medichecks.com and Sport England www.sportengland.org.
For more information on Her Spirit go to www.herspirit.co.uk and sign up and download the Her Spirit app. It's FREE till the end of June 2020.
At Her Spirit, we’re building a FREE global community designed exclusively for women’s activity.
Join us to connect with like-minded women, discover events, and find local groups that inspire you to move more.
✨ Find your tribe. Achieve your goals. Thrive together.
👉 Join the movement at https://www.herspirit.co.uk/
It’s time for You
Join us at herspirit.co.uk | Instagram | Facebook | Get the Her Spirit App
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