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THE MINT 400 Desert drama at the iconic American off-road race ROAR OF THE ROSES England rugby’s women on the push for sporting glory

CORAL CRUSADE How freediver GUILLAUME NÉRY and a group of young Polynesian innovators are fighting to save our underwater world FORD RANGER RAPTOR

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CONTRIBUTORS BIG IDEAS THIS ISSUE In this month’s issue of The Red Bulletin, we meet inspiring characters who remind us that we don’t need to possess all the answers to have a plan. When Titouan Bernicot gave up his place at business school in France and moved back to Mo’orea, the small island in French Polynesia where he’d grown up, he wasn’t exactly sure how he was going to achieve his goal – to GAVIN BOND The British snapper is more help save the coral reefs around his island. He only knew that used to fashion shoots than trying to do it was the only way he could be happy. Bernicot motorsports, but somehow found himself at US off-road has since founded the Coral Gardeners (page 30), a group of race The Mint 400. “It was surfers, fishermen and freedivers who are working to save not three dusty days in the desert I won’t forget,” he says. “It only the reefs around Mo’orea, but around the world. was my last shoot before the And in our feature Think Bigger (page 41) we discover the pandemic hit, but dodging trucks and wearing a mask to athletes who used 2020 not as a year to stay at home, but as avoid the inhaling the dust one in which to push themselves further than ever, using new did not prepare me for what followed in 2020.” Page 50 training grounds, methods and contacts to do it. Then we speak to three of the Red Roses (page 68), the England women’s rugby team, who all successfully fought for a place in the squad despite having to study or work full-time alongside their sporting JESSICA HAYDEN career. Since winning The London-based rugby professional contracts in journalist and women’s rugby columnist wrote our feature 2019, the team’s victories on the England women’s have multiplied, and rugby team. “The Red Roses are a fun, hard-working and we find out why their awe-inspiring group of best still lies ahead. athletes,” says Hayden, who also writes for The Times and We hope you enjoy The Guardian among others. the issue. “This is a monumental year for women’s rugby. It’s the best time to start watching.” Page 68

Out on patrol with the Coral Gardeners, as shot by

filmmaker/photographer and crew member Ryan Borne. GARDENERS CORAL (COVER), BORNE RYAN Page 30

04 THE RED BULLETIN

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www.howies.co.uk 50 Sands of time: 53 years on from inception, The Mint 400 endures

08 Gallery: autumnal mountain- biking in the forests of France; cliff diving in a former salt mine in Romania; ice-cool surfing in small-town Alaska 15 Rap royalty Common captures the spirit of social revolution in just four songs CONTENTSMarch 2021 16 TouchMe: the musical device that transforms skin into a whole 24 Joe Joyce 75 Mountain excitement: ride, sail different kind of organ Zen and the art of boxing and hike through the Norwegian fjords for a spectacular and 18 The self-cultured Ouroboros exhilarating experience Steak makes biting your nails 26 Ben Buddy Slack Committing memories to music feel like an appetiser 80 Keep the frost at bay in the best cold-weather cycling garb 21 Channel Iron Man in the 28 Bolanle Tajudeen workplace with the Guardian XO Putting diversity in the picture 82 Inspiring life lessons from full-body exoskeleton suit 30 Coral Gardeners para-athlete Claire Danson 22 Throwing popcorn is still possible Reef rescue with Polynesia’s 84 ThruDark: next-level mountain kit with OMA Cinema’s viewing pods, defenders of the deep 86 Step back in time: the return of the Nintendo Game & Watch but only if you perfect your aim 41 Think bigger Lockdown needn’t be a hurdle 87 Gaming: become a stealth expert to success – here’s the proof 88 Our pick of the hottest hiking gear 50 The Mint 400 94 Essential dates for your calendar Eating dust on the trail of 98 Wingsuited wonders in Norway America’s oldest desert rally 62 Monki The London DJ playing for kicks 68 Red Roses The England women’s rugby GAVIN BOND GAVIN team are ready to rule 2021

THE RED BULLETIN 07 BRIOUDE, FRANCE Falling into place In life, sometimes everything just comes together. Take Jean-Baptiste Liautard’s last-minute assignment to shoot mountain biker Amaury Pierron. Following a flight from Vancouver, then a long drive, the photographer arrived in south-central France tired and short of ideas. Enter a sudden snowstorm. “I remember running in every direction, trying to figure out the shot I should do and the lighting needed,” he says, “but I’m glad I had time to set up everything before it stopped snowing. We were even lucky with the fall tones of the trees perfectly matching Amaury's kit and bike.” Bless you, Mother Nature... jbliautard.com JB LIAUTARD JB

09 TURDA, ROMANIA Deep dive A former salt mine turned tourist attraction, Romania’s Salina Turda is a subterranean wonderland with structures that glow like mutant sea anemones in the gloom. But Red Bull Cliff Diving ace Rhiannan Iffland was only here for the lake, 112m below ground. “We ticked a ‘world’s first’ box: the first-ever underground dive into a salt mine,” says the Australian of her October 2020 plunge. “The water is 17 per cent more dense than seawater, so the impact is different. It pushes you straight up to the surface.” joergmitter.com; Instagram: @rhiannan_iffland JOERG MITTER/RED BULL CONTENT POOL CONTENT MITTER/RED BULL JOERG

11 YAKUTAT, ALASKA Chill wave Action sports photographer Dom Daher was working at the Freeride World Tour in Haines, Alaska, when he received a text from former freeride medallist Anne-Flore Marxer. “She said it was pumping in Yakutat and we should go right after the event,” recalls the Frenchman. “So, the next day, we flew there – in a very small plane.” Yukutat in south-east Alaska has a population of just 600 – “the town cop knows everyone’s home phone number by heart,” reports Daher – and a wave that local surfers keep a fiercely guarded secret. Nevertheless, resident teacher Andrew (pictured) was on hand to add a human element to this dramatic shot. domdaher.com DOM DAHER

13

COMMON Sing the changes The US rapper, actor and activist shares four songs that embody the sound of revolution

Social activism and promoting positivity have long been trademarks of Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr, best known as rapper and actor Common. The Chicagoan, a regular on the frontlines of protest in 2020, is the author of two best-selling books, has appeared in films including 2014’s Selma – for which he co-penned the Academy Award-winning song Glory and starred as civil rights leader James Bevel – and has recorded 13 albums. With his latest, A Beautiful Revolution Pt.1 (out now), the 48-year-old Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winner wants to heal and inspire those affected by racial and social injustice. Here, he lists four classic tracks with the power to change the world… thinkcommon.com

John Lennon Queen Latifah Yasiin Bey (fka Mos Def) Gil Scott-Heron Imagine (1971) UNITY (1993) Umi Says (1999) The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1971) “This song has always “The end result of revolution “Mos played this to me before resonated with me because I’m should be unity. Throughout it came out, and I remember “I was really young when I first a dreamer and I really believe history there’s been an telling him, ‘This is one of the heard this song. It was unique in a better world, full of love, imbalance of male energy and greatest records I’ve ever to me, because I’d never heard compassion and happiness. dominance that has negatively heard.’ It felt so soulful and spoken word on a song before. FLORIAN OBKIRCHERFLORIAN Imagination is a powerful tool. affected the world. Queen uplifting. When I think of this As I got older, I really took heed So many things we create start Latifah is empowering women, song – especially the lyric ‘My of what he was saying. Gil Scott- off as an imagined thought or telling them they’re queens and Umi [‘mother’ in Arabic] said Heron represents the true hopeful feeling. John’s inspiring they should demand respect. shine your light on the world’ – core, heart and purity of what words make me feel like change The revolution is nothing without I see it as an act of revolution. revolution is: being unafraid, can happen. That, to me, is one women in power, in leadership If you’re shining your light on courageous, clever, and having MARK LEIBOWITZMARK of the seeds of revolution.” roles, with respect and honour.” the world, that’s part of it.” power in what you say.”

THE RED BULLETIN 15 “And for my values ​between contact areas; encore, some this data is then sent as a Diana Ross… MIDI signal to your computer TouchMe in the Morning” where it is converted into sounds that are played via an online interface. “TouchMe is a very straightforward expression of our bodies and our tactile activity together,” says 30-year-old, Moscow-born Pas, the founder of Berlin-based creative technology studio Playtronica. “Our main focus is to explore the potential of the human body as an interface. By playing with TouchMe, you can measure the intensity of touch, not through numbers on a screen but by sound.” Through this device, Playtronica wants to tap into our instinctive need for physical touch and play, and summon forth a new era of tactile creativity. “We started TOUCHME Touch is believed to be the a series of interviews with first sense we develop in life; psychologists, therapists and our earliest contact with educators this year to find out Feel the another person, established about other events in history before birth. It is also one of that relate to touch and have music the experiences that’s been in changed our behaviour,” says short supply during the past Pas. “Humans always return to Human physical contact is vital 12 months. Ask people what a point when we are touching to our mental wellbeing. It can they’ve missed most while other people. It’s a vital living through social distancing element that we cannot cut also keep us in tune with others and many would say closeness out of our life – there would be and the ability to hug and hold too many psychological and their family and friends. physiological effects. What we Keen for us not to lose found is that people tend to this primal instinct, musician/ adapt to most things, but we designer Sasha Pas has cannot live without touch.” developed TouchMe, a device While Playtronica has that encourages human bodily purposefully made TouchMe contact… and allows us to make easy to use and affordable to sweet music, too. This spatula- buy, so that anyone can try it shaped object adorned with at home, it is also suitable for circuit boards and LED lights much larger, public projects. is a MIDI controller that, when “Back when we could still touch connected to a computer, strangers safely, we connected transforms your throat into a 20 to 50 people in a public

flute, your arm into a keyboard, space and tuned them all BOYD LOU or your stomach into a guitar. differently, as a social, open By each holding an end and public instrument. I think of TouchMe, two people can now, more than ever, people turn their bodies into one think about touch. We hope this musical instrument and play past year has been a trigger a full scale or melody on each for people to take more notice other’s skin with their free of their tactile experience

hand. The device works by in life and its importance.” CONDE,FILIPE PLAYTRONICA Snowboard? No. Tongue depressor? No. Musical innovation? Yes measuring the resistance playtronica.com

16 THE RED BULLETIN • SERIES 3 BUTTED & HYDROFORMED FRAME • 65° HTA/75° STA, 425MM CHAINSTAYS • 130MM ROCKSHOX REVELATION RC • SHIMANO DEORE 12-SPEED & MT-420 4 PISTON BRAKES OUROBOROS STEAK official website, ourochef.com. “We provide the nutrients for growing healthy cells, Culture yourself scaffolds to make delicious They say you are what you eat. Never has that been textures, and all the kitchen consumables, tools and truer than with this rather unsettling dish appliances you’ll need to care for your luxurious creations.” Think this all sounds too dystopian to be true? You’d be half right. Although this product and the process behind it is real, it hasn’t been created as a viable future food source. The Ouroboros Steak is an art project conceived by Canadian scientist and biohacker Andrew Pelling, German artist Orkan Telhan and New York- based industrial designer Grace Knight with the aim of highlighting unethical practices in cultivated meat production, including the use of FBS (foetal bovine serum) – the blood of calf foetuses collected after their pregnant mothers have been slaughtered by the meat or dairy industry. The human serum used in this steak is presented as a much more ethical and sustainable option. If you find the notion disgusting, say Ouroboros’ creators, their point has been succinctly made. If we wouldn’t eat meat grown from our own cells and blood at home, are we content to support meat cultivated from the by-products Grow your own: “May I suggest today’s special… Sir’s loin steak?” of animals slaughtered during traditional farming practices? “Growing yourself ensures that you and your loved ones always know the origin of your Many of us would like to eat of a snake devouring its own food; how it has been raised meat without worrying about tail – is made using cells and that its cells were acquired the effect our consumption collected from the inside ethically and consensually,” has on the environment. One of your cheek with a swab. reads the mission statement modern solution has been These are deposited in a pre- at ourochef.com. The project cultured meat – made from grown scaffold and fed a has been nominated for the cells taken from animal muscle ‘serum’ made from unused Design Museum’s Beazley and grown in a lab. Now, this human blood deposits. The Designs of the Year awards, DIY kit goes further, allowing sample is then incubated in which recognise the most you to cultivate meat at home, a warm environment and fed thought-provoking concepts LOU BOYD LOU creating canapé-sized bites of with the serum for three months of the past 12 months. But its steak. But there’s a catch: it’s until the meat has grown. greatest achievement may be grown from your own cells. “Our goal is to supply in provoking real change. The clue is in the name: the everything you need to create The Ouroboros Steak is at the Ouroboros Steak – a reference cultivated food at home from Design Museum, London, until SPELLER FELIX to the ancient Egyptian symbol your own cells,” proclaims the March 28, designmuseum.org

18 THE RED BULLETIN

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All rights reserved | Radon cannot be held responsible for misprints. Radon reserves the right to change prices.Offer valid while supplies last. Company headquarters: H&S Bike-Discount GmbH | Wernher-von-Braun-Str. 15 | 53501 Grafschaft GUARDIAN XO Strong look: the Guardian XO weighs only 68kg and can be strapped on or Power removed in just 30 seconds – ideal dressing when you feel the urge to do the Robot It’s the workwear of the future – an exoskeleton that’s half man, half machine, and all business

If science fiction is to be believed, we’ll all be wearing robot exoskeletons one day. Now, that reality has edged one mighty, hydraulic step closer thanks to Guardian XO, the world’s first full-body powered exoskeleton, created by American technology firm Sarcos Robotics in partnership not through combat, but with the US military. But, construction, transportation unlike Marvel’s Iron Man or and manufacturing. “We talk to Tom Cruise’s powered armour people who can only do the job in 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow, for five to seven years before this suit wasn’t intended for their body is too broken or combat. Instead, it was beaten to be able to continue, designed for the more mundane as they have too much pain. task of manual labour, and its [With Guardian XO] we can potential to change everyday extend that time so they could life is far more amazing. work as long as they want to.” Attempts to build a The suit’s practical practical powered exoskeleton applications could extend to have been in the works since other areas of extreme human General Electric’s Hardiman exertion, such as emergency in 1965, but that suit weighed services and disaster relief. three quarters of a ton (680kg), But, while some technologists and its (limited) movement are also looking into total was so violent that no human automation such as drones or was ever put inside. Since robots powered by AI, Wolff then, many innovators have believes human intuition and brought prototypes to the intelligence will always play table, most of them ‘partial- a vital role in the workforce. body’ exoskeletons intended “The exoskeleton can help any “Our view is that AI won’t to help those with lower-body industry where humans are be as relevant as some of the injuries. But Sarcos’ CEO, lifting heavy objects or doing fearmongers would have us Ben Wolff, describes Guardian strenuous activities, by keeping believe, and we don’t think the XO as “a fully-functioning stress off the body,” Wolff says. Terminator will turn up one day wearable humanoid robot” And that’s where the armed and start doing all of our jobs. LOU BOYD LOU capable of smoothly lifting forces’ interest came in. As Humans will be ‘in the loop’ 90kg (45kg per arm) with one of the world’s largest for a long time to come, so the no physical strain, and its logistics operations, the US best thing to do is to focus 24 degrees of freedom allow military loses – according to on how to augment them with Woolf’s estimate – around DAN ESCOBAR DAN its operator to move freely technology, not replace them.” and easily within the suit. 27 million work days each year, sarcos.com

THE RED BULLETIN 21 Even from three pods away, the glowing phone screen was irking Karen

OMA CINEMA Oma Cinema replaces the the feeling of floating inside the rowed seating of a traditional room and in front of the screen.” cinema with pods for smaller You’re also less likely to have Distant vision groups. Hung vertically in front a tall person seated in front of of the screen, these seating you, blocking your view. With the traditional cinema experience under threat, ‘bubbles’ provide the socially The design has been noted two Parisians have looked to the past for a solution distanced reassurance cinema- for its futuristic style and even goers need, although the idea its resemblance to the Galactic was born not from safety so Senate in Star Wars, but the much as a desire to create a brothers are surprised by the “We could lose movie theatre- more immersive experience. comparison. “For us, it’s closer going for ever,” said Wonder “[We wanted to] use the full to the boxes in opera houses Woman 1984 director Patty height of the screen and bring and theatres,” says Nicholas. Jenkins last October after her the spectators closer to it,” “Each balcony could have sofa- superhero blockbuster was says Nicholas of a structure style seating, armchairs, or a delayed for a third time that that stacks the audience on a smaller set of cinema seats.” year. Here was another example 50 per cent incline, rather than The first Oma Cinema is of the devastating effect of the 25 per cent of a traditional scheduled to open in Paris this COVID-19 on 2020’s big-screen cinema. “Spectators will have year, and the two founders release schedule, which also are licensing the design to saw James Bond’s latest outing other movie theatre owners. postponed until 2021 and even “Cinemas are facing very tough reliable hitmaker Christopher times, which is why the industry Nolan fail to lure most viewers needs to innovate, find new back to theatres with Tenet. ways to connect with audiences The way we socially and make them want to see congregate has changed, and films together again. There’s the ritual of gathering in a large a unique nature to watching a movie theatre, seated side by film with others in the dark, on side, row upon row, could be the biggest screen you can BOYD LOU facing an extinction-level event. find, with true surround sound. But to survive is to evolve, as It’s something streaming can’t shown by Parisian architects replicate. We need to remind Pierre and Nicholas Chican and

people what makes it so iconic.” CINEMAOMA their ‘vertical cinema’. Dramatic entrance: Oma Cinema’s futuristic foyer omacinema.com

22 THE RED BULLETIN

EDITION

Joe Joyce

How do your loved ones feel about watching you in the ring? Thinking outside Well, my mum is registered blind [she has just seven-per-cent vision]. When I was growing up, I always the box had to read the numbers on buses and signs at train stations for her, He’s tall, he’s tough, he’s undefeated. and help with shopping. But I think But there’s a lot more to the London-born it’s hard for close family and friends to watch a loved one box. She can’t boxer than you see in the ring really see, but I don’t know if that Words RACHAEL SIGEE Photography ADAM HILLS makes it any better, because she can still hear. She uses her monocular [small telescope] to extend her vision and she can see some of it. Standing 6ft 6in (just short of 2m) Who would you credit as tall and weighing in at 18st 6lb your inspirations? Is it true that you once trained (117kg), Joe Joyce looks every bit For my degree, I actually painted with Shaolin monks? the heavyweight boxer. In November my icons. I did Muhammed Ali, I did! I missed my university last year, the 35-year-old nicknamed Bruce Lee, Beyoncé... I’ve painted graduation because I’d booked to ‘The Juggernaut’ took the British, the Williams sisters, too. go a place near the Shaolin Temple European and Commonwealth [in China] where foreign students heavyweight titles after beating Some people view heavyweight could train. I stayed there two fellow Brit Daniel Dubois, and, boxing as just two huge guys months, learning Shaolin kung fu. still undefeated as a pro, he’s now slugging it out. Would you say The first school taught the Wushu eyeing up a world title shot in 2021. there’s more of an art to it? side, which is more acrobatic and By traditional boxing standards, There’s a lot that goes into being gymnastic, and the second was more however, Joyce is a latecomer – he a boxer – and especially being a the serious fighting style, the raw was only introduced to the sport in successful one. It’s not all about form. That set me up well for Team his early twenties after abandoning how muscly you are, or how good GB, because at the school it was four ideas of a career in athletics. He your footwork or your punches are. sessions a day, starting at 5.30am quickly rose through the ranks to It’s an accumulation of all those for a run. It got me used to training. win an Olympic silver medal for things and also your psychological Team GB at the 2016 Games, before strength – how you deal with the And you performed some turning pro the following year. And confrontation, how you prepare surprisingly agile capoeira Joyce also bucks the brutish fighter before a fight. Boxing is very hard moves in the ring after your win stereotype: from his artistic talents as there’s so much you have to think over Daniel Dubois in November. to an unlikely spell as a cheerleader, about – it’s like fast-paced chess. Where did that come from? the Londoner is full of surprises… It’s a very technical sport and it I did gymnastics when I was little, happens at split-second speed. and then a lot of martial arts while the red bulletin: You have a growing up. Then I went on an degree in fine art, and outside the How do you handle the pain of exchange to Sacramento State ring you’re a talented painter. being hit? University in my third year of uni These passions seem worlds apart. I grew up playing rugby, so I’ve and ended up doing cheerleading. Do you see any similarities? always been used to getting right I contemplated joining the athletics joe joyce: Well, they’re both on in there, being hit and charging or American Football teams, but the canvas! The more art you make, through people. I’m used to bumps you had to be there a whole year the better an artist you are, and the – it doesn’t really bother me. It’s – I was only there for a semester. same goes for boxing. I knew that to better not to get hit, but I don't mind I got talking to a girl who was a succeed as an artist you need to be it. It doesn’t really hurt – it’s a dull cheerleader and she told me about lucky or connected. It’s hard to make pain, like a thud. You know when the gymnastic side of it. I told her a business out of art, so I thought you get a paper cut, it hurts more I’d always wanted to do round-off boxing was more realistic for me. than a big gash? It’s kind of similar back tucks, so she said, “You have to that. You get used to taking to come along!” You have to go punches and being able to ride them and hype up the crowd and lead and either block them or move away everyone into the stadium. It’s a to take the force out of them. It whole big thing in America, with would hurt a lot more if you were the band, the cheerleaders and just relaxed with your chin up in the the mascot. By the end of it, I was air and someone hit you full-pelt – doing really advanced moves. that’s definitely going to hurt! Instagram: @joejoyceboxing

24 THE RED BULLETIN “Making it as an artist is hard. Boxing was more realistic”

THE RED BULLETIN 25 Ben Buddy Slack

their situation. I love seeing them a week later, after I’ve given them “Songwriting is the CD and MP3, and hearing how their loved ones reacted. a superpower” Do you think it helps them to reflect on their life in a new way? Meet the Leeds-based musician and would-be Some of the reflections people have detective who’s helping the terminally ill create had when we’ve been making songs have blown my mind. People come a legacy through song in like, “I’ve not had an interesting Words JESSICA HOLLAND Photography OLLO WEGUELIN life,” and then we’ll talk about it and they’ll say, “Actually, you know, this was really special, this was really meaningful.” It works well “I was nothing, now I’m me,” Vic support from the likes of Red Bull with people who might not want Simborowski sings quietly, his face Amaphiko – a project that champions any form of therapy. They’ll agree wrought with emotion. Opposite social entrepreneurs – and Virgin to write a song, and all of a sudden him, a heavily bearded man with Radio DJ Chris Evans, who donated they’re talking about their feelings. tattooed forearms strums a guitar £25,000 live on air. As Slack works and nods along. This is Ben Buddy on plans to expand his team and It sounds as if just listening is Slack, who co-wrote the song with widen access to the initiative, he a crucial part of what you do… Vic, a resident in a Bradford hospice, explains how the process of sharing People say that when they’ve got as part of the Swan Song Project, an songs can be transformative… these conditions, all conversations initiative set up to help those with become about that. So I’m like, “I terminal illnesses express themselves the red bulletin: Did you connect don’t care about your illness, I care through music. (Sadly, Vic passed with music at a young age? about you and the things that matter away a year later, aged 70.) ben buddy slack: I remember a to you.” It gives people a chance to Slack understands the power New Year’s party at a relative’s house remember who they are. of song. One of his tattoos quotes when I was about 12. My uncle got a lyric from Tom Waits’ track Come out a guitar and started singing, and This is definitely different from On up to the House: “The world is the whole thing was transformed – your initial career choice… not my home, I'm just a’passin thru.” everyone was singing along. It feels Yes, for a long time I wanted to be “The song is very special to me,” says like a superpower to do something a detective, probably from watching the Leeds-based musician, who has that brings everyone together and too many TV shows. I thought I’d be played in bands as well as teaching creates this wonderful atmosphere good at it because I’m tall. [Laughs.] music skills to those in prison and and sense of community. It was then So I did a BTEC in Uniformed young offender institutions. “It has that I got a guitar and began learning. Protective Services, then I started remained a go-to in difficult times.” a degree in Criminology. It was One of these times was the death Is that sense of self-expression more fascinating, but I was getting more of his grandmother six years ago. important to you than expertise? serious about music. After a year, I Recalling the many evenings his gran At school, I always felt excluded in decided to give my band, [blues-rock spent singing traditional Irish folk music. I hated how it was taught, so trio] The Blind Dead McJones Band, songs, Slack regretted the missed I didn’t do it as a GCSE, even though a go. Then came the community work opportunity to co-write a song that I was playing in pubs with my uncle. with music and I never looked back. would have kept her memory alive. With Swan Song, people worry they’re After much mulling it over, he began not a great musician, so I have to How has music shaped your life? pitching his songwriting idea to remind them what’s important. We’re It gets me out of my shell. It’s been various hospices, which led – with not trying to win an award for Best a foundation for many great trepidation – to his very first session. Vocal Performance. We just want it to friendships and happy memories. Three years later, the Swan Song mean something to those who matter. I’ve seen Bruce Springsteen live Project has helped not only those who six times, and I watch his concert have co-written with Slack, but the Are people usually nervous at first? DVDs over and over. That was just 31-year-old himself. He has forged They’re not sure what to expect. But one night in his life, but I’ve deep bonds with his collaborators then there’s a moment when it clicks watched it hundreds of times and and their families, and has received and they realise it’s going to be a loved every time. Songs can live for song that makes sense. That’s always ever. They stay inside you. Music is special. A lot of the time, people will a form of magic, really. get inspired and continue working on swansongproject.co.uk it when I’m not there. It gives them a focus, rather than worrying about

26 THE RED BULLETIN “Songs can live for ever. They stay inside you”

THE RED BULLETIN 27 Bolanle Tajudeen

contemporary practices of Black female and non-binary artists, using Making art the Tate collection and work outside that, too. I put a lot about activism in there; how artists have responded history to social upheaval and political change. It spoke to people, as there The London creative, activist and entrepreneur was nothing else like it. is reinventing the education system with her Is that why you founded your Black Blossoms School of Art and Culture school, Black Blossoms? Words RUTH McLEOD Photography ALEXIS CHABALA I first thought about it while working as an education officer at UAL after my studies. I wanted to decolonise the curriculum, get more authors of When Bolanle Tajudeen began Culture curates affordable, accessible colour on reading lists, more BAME frequenting galleries and museums online courses that aim to decolonise, lecturers teaching courses. Then, eight years ago, while studying PR deconstruct and democratise the when [COVID] closed museums and at the University of the Arts London education system. And, Tajudeen galleries, I decided to teach online. I (UAL), it changed her life. She fell in says, that’s just the beginning. realised I knew so many great experts love with art and the creatives she and this was our chance to make a studied alongside. But it was the the red bulletin: What does art change. For me, the pandemic took inequality and injustice the Nigerian- mean to you? away the power of universities and born Londoner encountered in both bolanle tajudeen: I never went other institutions. We can all be the education system and the to galleries while growing up – they curators now, we’ve got Zoom, and mainstream art world that prompted didn’t feel like spaces for me. But art people are doing courses at home in her to become a curator. Tajudeen was everywhere. At Nigerian parties, a way that felt unnatural in 2019. discovered that, at UK universities, the way people would tie their head Before, I never had the confidence, Black students were 21 per cent less scarves was artistic. Even how the the social clout or the capital to say, likely to get a first or a 2:1 than their boys would hang around on our “We don’t need the backing of an white counterparts, and only 0.6 per estate – compositionally, it was an institution – we can do it ourselves.” cent of university professors were aesthetic. I feel seen when I see art Black. “Plus, I was around so many that speaks to me or has been made What has the response been like? creatives of colour, but I didn’t see with me in mind. I’m very political, Amazing. People have said it’s their work reflected in the industry.” but I’m over standing on a soapbox. revolutionary. We have great Tajudeen began displaying the I believe art can be a tool for change. lecturers, including curator and work of Black artists for Black History It speaks to me being a woman, being writer Lisa Anderson on Black Month at uni. By 2019, she’d hosted Black, being a mother. Art helps me British Art and cultural art historian many successful exhibitions, and articulate feelings that I might not Michael Ohajuru on The Black taught a sell-out course, Art in the Age be able to with words. Image in London Galleries. All sorts of Black Girl Magic, at Tate Britain. of people have signed up – the Yet she was struggling: “I worked in What hurdles did you face in curator of the government’s art a fried chicken shop to pay the rent. becoming a curator? collection was on our last course. I was applying for museum and I’m not from a curatorial background, gallery roles and not getting them. and I didn’t study history of art. I’ve What’s next for Black Blossoms? I’m from a council estate in Ladbroke educated myself. I’ve been on courses I’m working on opening 40 artist Grove, so I had to build my own and attended conferences and artists’ studios, a gallery in Ladbroke Grove, network. I’d work in the chicken talks to really understand the and a website where artists and shop, rush home, change, then be at history of Black art in this country. writers of colour can write about the a patrons’ party at a museum in the And I’ve got a teaching qualification. art world. My ideal would be for all evening. No one knew I was broke.” But I didn’t want to study art history. Black households in Britain to have Fast forward to 2021 and the 32- The courses don’t talk about the a Black Blossoms subscription. There year-old has found a way to bypass things I want to discuss. I didn’t is evidence that a lot of Black people traditional institutions and promote want to spend more money just to don’t feel comfortable in museums a more diverse perspective on art. Her learn about old, dead, white guys. and galleries – this could be their Black Blossoms School of Art and entry point. Basically I’m hoping for Was that sentiment why your a mini Black Blossoms empire! Tate Britain course sold out? black-blossoms.online It was one of the first courses of its kind at any major institution.

It focused on the historical and @SHAMARA_ROPER; ROPER, SHAMARA HAIR: JENELLE @JENELLEROPER ROPER, MAKE-UP: AND TECH NAIL

28 THE RED BULLETIN “Growing up, galleries didn’t feel like spaces for me”

THE RED BULLETIN 29 New life: cultivated coral is fixed to a dead or damaged reef with a few dabs of marine

cement. This is applied KELSEY WILLIAMSON using a form of piping bag Raising the reef

A group of young Polynesians are fghting to protect the world’s reefs against the effects of global warming, one piece of coral at a time

Words RUTH McLEOD and CHRISTINE VITEL Photography RYAN BORNE

31 Coral Gardeners

Deep concerns: 22-year-old Taiano Teiho (left) and one of his fellow Coral Gardeners set off on a restoration mission

ach time freediver Guillaume freediver Julie Gautier – and daughter colour. It’s a place with no life at all, like Néry disappears into the Maï-Lou, whom the couple want to raise a desert. Sometimes you’ll see a fish pass underwater world, he learns close to nature. “I’m lucky enough to by, but it’s only looking for somewhere something new. It is this have been freediving for more than else to go. I knew this global warming seemingly limitless potential 24 years now,” says Néry, who has four episode wasn’t natural, it was due to for exploration that fuels the freediving depth world records and two human activity. The scientists say there Frenchman’s passion. And world championship titles to his name. will be more episodes like that. The ocean Ebeing underwater gives Néry a feeling “I’ve travelled the world, had experiences is resilient, but there’s a limit. If things he can’t find on land. “It’s this sense of in every kind of underwater environment, change too fast, there’s a big chance zero gravity,” he says. “When I’m from oceans to lakes, under ice. But most of the world’s coral will disappear. descending, there’s a moment when there’s really something special about When I realised that, I was terrified.” I’m suspended in space and time, and tropical areas. It’s the biodiversity you Now his visits here have become about it really feels like I’m flying. There’s a witness, especially here in French more than underwater exploration; sense of freedom – it’s transformative. Polynesia. The extraordinary examples he’s fighting for the reef’s survival. I’m switching from a landbound human of life you find underwater here are Néry is working with an organisation to an aquatic one.” almost all due to the coral reef system. known as the Coral Gardeners, who, as This desire to learn is what has drawn It’s an entire, complex ecosystem. It’s the name suggests, tend to and cultivate Néry to the island paradise of Mo’orea, really something amazing to witness.” coral. They have shown Néry how to around 40km from Tahiti in the South But when Néry visited in 2019, after replant broken coral, and in return he has Pacific. That and something else unique a rise in water temperature caused by taught the group breathing techniques to the underwater world: coral. For the global warming, he found that 30 per that allow them to remain underwater past seven years, the 38-year-old has cent of the coral had died. “Dead coral for longer periods while they work. This come here with his partner – fellow is monochrome,” he says. “There’s no is a symbiotic relationship that the Coral

32 THE RED BULLETIN Coral dilemma: freediver Guillaume Néry became an ambassador for the Coral Gardeners after a 2019 visit to French Polynesia, where he witnessed the devastating effects of global warming firsthand

“The more of us who are concerned about this, the bigger the change can be” Second chance: fragments of damaged coral are collected by the team, then transported here to the ‘nursery table’ for assessment Coral Gardeners

World of difference: the seabed is home to in excess of a thousand distinct species of coral, and more than 170 of these can be found in French Polynesia alone

Gardeners – a team of young Polynesian pigmentation. All you’re left with is the ne reason why action is happening surfers, freedivers and fishermen – are calcareous skeleton – a dead coral.” now on Mo’orea is local surfer and keen to foster; after all, it’s a philosophy The breakdown of this relationship O freediver Titouan Bernicot, who they’ve learnt from the very coral they’re in the world’s coral reefs is a fitting founded the Coral Gardeners. “The trying to save. “A coral is an animal, a metaphor for the ruinous effect human Polynesian people have always had a polyp,” explains Taiano Teiho, a 22-year- activity is having on the natural world. strong link to Mother Nature,” says the old member of the coral restoration “In the worst-case scenario, we’d see the 22-year-old, who has lived on the island group. “It lives in symbiosis with a plant- loss of all marine life, from the smallest since he was three. “I’ve grown up based life form, the zooxanthella. This is fish to the largest marine mammals, as surfing, freediving, spearfishing, diving a form of microalgae found in the coral’s we would lose the nutrient input that with sharks. The coral reef has been our tissue. The polyps provide shelter for comes from the sea,” says Teiho. “We playground and also our school. It has the microalgae, and, in exchange, the would also lose more than half of the taught us humility and respect.” photosynthesis the microalgae perform oxygen we breathe if all organisms such Bernicot, the son of Tahitian pearl will provide 90 per cent of the nutrients as phytoplankton, which photosynthesise, farmers, has a house on the beach so that the polyps need to create the coral’s died. That’s why we have to act now.” he’s as close as possible to the sea, and to calcareous exoskeleton. the coral garden he has created beneath “The one cannot live without the the surface. “I’ve spent a lot of time other. When water temperatures rise, “The coral reef has learning how to build up [the coral] and the zooxanthella creates toxins that finding out more about the underwater the polyp can’t live with, so it then been our playground ecosystem,” he says. “The coral creates rejects the microalgae. This leads to such varied architecture. It’s like a big coral bleaching, as it was the microalgae and our school. It has city where coral, every species of fish, that created the coral’s colourful taught us respect” every crab and octopus has an important

THE RED BULLETIN 35 Depth charge: Teiho keeps a watchful – almost paternal – eye on the coral cuttings in his care

role to play in managing the balance of really weird under our feet,” he says. “All “Our nurseries are the reef ecosystem. It’s really like a the corals were white – they’d bleached. like little gardens [conventional] garden, but instead of That was the first time we’d seen this. birds we have fish, and instead of a dog “That same afternoon, I Googled it underwater where there’s the shark and stingray.” and discovered two things. First, I learned the coral will adapt Bernicot has been tending to his that corals aren’t simple stones, they’re garden since he was 16. It was at that living organisms, and they were turning themselves” age a day’s surfing changed his path in white due to global warming. This could life. Bernicot, his younger brother and be the first ecosystem on our planet to a friend had rowed out to the reef break collapse, even as soon as 2050. And it in his small aluminium boat. “And as we wasn’t happening only on my island of were waiting for waves, we saw something Mo’orea, but everywhere in the world –

36 THE RED BULLETIN Coral Gardeners

he met a local who was replanting broken coral and showed him how to do it. Bernicot set to work on his own underwater garden. Next, he sought advice from marine biologists working at Mo’orea’s two scientific research centres: the Gump Research Station, administered by the University of California, Berkeley; and the pre-eminent French institution CRIOBE (Centre for Island Research and Environmental Observatory), which has facilitated the study of marine life in Polynesia for more than 30 years and now works in partnership with the Coral Gardeners. But what they told Bernicot wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “I knocked on the doors of all the scientific and research institutions,” he says. “Everyone told me to finish high school, then do a three-year biology degree, then a masters in marine biology and then, ‘If you’re sharp enough, go and do a PhD.’ There’s a real need for scientists – today, we work hand-in-hand with them – but that’s just not me. I’m more of an entrepreneur. I told them they were crazy, I couldn’t do that. It killed my motivation.”

t was actually a stint away from his island home that eventually gave I birth to the Coral Gardeners. Feeling defeated, an 18-year-old Bernicot consented to his parents’ wishes that he study business in the south-west of France. He lasted two weeks. “I couldn’t stand it,” he says. “There I was, all alone in my little apartment in Bordeaux. I’d left my island family, my dogs, my friends, my corals. I called my parents, and said, ‘Sorry, but I won’t be going back to school.’ They told me, ‘Titouan, we believe in you, but you won’t have any more money from us now. You have to support yourself.’ That was a shock.” Bernicot decided he would somehow pay back his parents the €7,000 they’d spent on his business course, then return to Mo’orea to try to help save the coral reef. Aptly, it was the South Pacific Ocean at the Great Barrier Reef, at the Florida waves’ energy, preventing erosion. Coral that provided the means: Tahitian pearls. Keys, in Indonesia, Egypt, the Maldives. reefs are also home to a quarter of all “I went to the business centre of the town Second, I learned that the coral, these the species we know of in the ocean. and created a jewellery company the next little organisms, gave me everything Reefs are like the rainforests of the sea. day. I went to every hotel, every winery, I need in my life. From the best moments Scientists estimate that 70 per cent of the every house, to sell my Tahitian pearls.” surfing reef-break waves, freediving, and oxygen we breathe comes from a healthy With the earnings, he paid his parents, swimming with sharks, to the fish we ocean. The most shocking thing? Almost his rent, then took a surf trip to Morocco. eat – the reef feeds my family and my no one on our island realised this. That’s His remaining money went into founding community. It also brings tourism and why the Coral Gardeners exist.” the Coral Gardeners in 2017, following develops our economy. It protects our That day, Bernicot decided he would his return to Mo’orea. “I still didn’t know coastline by acting as a coastal protection devote his life to helping protect the it could be my life plan or my career,” he barrier, stopping 97 per cent of the coral around his island. On the beach, says. “There was no business model to

THE RED BULLETIN 37 “Reefs are like the rainforests of the sea”

International rescue: the Coral Gardeners plan to expand their reef relief work from a localised concern to a global mission Coral Gardeners

achieve that, except becoming a marine they’re sent a picture, GPS coordinates biologist, and I didn’t want to do that, so and regular updates. More than 21,000 I had to reinvent everything.” But Bernicot people have adopted so far, and that has always had a head for business. At number is rising daily. There’s also an the age of 11 he started his first company, innovation centre headed by Drew Gray, selling stickers at school. The proceeds a former director of engineering at Uber bought him his little aluminium boat. and the first hire made by Elon Musk “I’ve always had the feeling that nothing when developing Tesla’s self-driving car. is impossible. If you work hard and The American is using his tech nous to connect with the right people, you can improve restoration of the reef, better achieve your dreams. And I’ve never monitor human impact, and bring worked so hard as this. Day and night.” adopters closer to their coral – soon Bernicot’s team have now grown from they’ll be able to see it growing online. one to 20 full-time staff, who are paid “We have big plans,” says Bernicot. a fair wage for their long hours, and all “We want to reach a million super corals profits are reinvested into the company planted back onto reefs worldwide by to fund the planting of coral, raising 2025. That will mean opening 30 awareness worldwide, and innovation. international branches in Indonesia, the Over the past four years, the group have Maldives, Seychelles, Philippines, Egypt, planted more than 15,000 corals on the Australia, Hawaii… and more in the north side of Mo’orea. When they set off islands of Tahiti. We’ll need hundreds of on a restoration mission, they start out people planting corals every day. What’s by collecting pieces of coral scattered in beautiful is the people planting coral in the water. Destroyed chiefly by swells Local hero: Titouan Bernicot spurned a potential our team are local fisherman, freedivers and human activity, these “fragments of career in business to save his island’s reef and surfers, so they’re really comfortable opportunity” – as the team call them – in the water, and then they learn from are taken to a nursery, where they will the scientists. They’re doing their ideal regenerate, stabilise and grow in the best job, restoring the reef. It’s beautiful to conditions possible over several months. of years later they could spawn. If we watch as a coral gets bigger and there are These provide cuttings that are then see this, it’s game on. Then they’ll be fish and crabs in it – that’s why we started, replanted on damaged or completely dead populating the reef around them.” and it’s what stimulates us to do more. reefs. The coral is wedged in a small Tomorrow we’re talking to 50 kids on crevice where it can survive alone. Marine owever, Bernicot and his team our island. I want them to have the same cement is dabbed around the coral to know that replanting alone won’t feeling I had at 16; to fall in love with the strengthen it and keep it in position. H be enough to stave off the corals and the ocean and want to help it.” “We like to say it’s a second chance for potentially catastrophic effects of global And then there’s the awareness that damaged coral,” Teiho says. “Plus it’s warming. “We have a few little signs of is being spread by ambassadors such as bringing new life to a dead coral head.” hope,” says Bernicot, “but planting corals Néry and other athletes and influencers The Coral Gardeners monitor the itself won’t save the reef, which is why who have been moved by the Coral replanted coral closely and record their we’re trying to also raise awareness. Gardeners’ ambitions and appreciate observations to build a more detailed Basically, we need more people to give the urgent need to highlight the issue. picture of how the changing environment a shit about coral reefs. If we really want “Adopting a coral, especially for kids, is affects them. There have already been to help the reef, we need to create a a very good way for them to understand breakthroughs. “People often ask, ‘OK, worldwide movement of collaborative how important it is to protect it,” says global warming is killing corals, so why action at the same time as planting Néry. “Change has to happen locally are you planting them? They’re going to resilient corals.” first, and then, if many people act, it can die anyway,’” says Bernicot. “Well, the To this end, the Coral Gardeners have grow into a huge wave. I see the Coral scientists here found something super already amassed a following of more than Gardeners as pioneers in this work. The exciting this past couple of years: 500,000 on social media and through more of us who are concerned about species of coral they’ve called super their coral adoption programme – their this, the bigger the change can be. That’s corals. Super corals are genotypes of main revenue stream – whereby people why I’m helping. coral that [can tolerate] the rise in water pay to adopt a particular coral, for which “I used to be a very optimistic person, temperature. During a bleaching event, then I had a phase where I was very some of these corals are not dying – pessimistic, and today I think that I have they’re more resilient. Our nurseries are “We want to reach – that we all have – to give as much like little gardens underwater where the a figure of a million positive energy as possible. We each have coral will adapt themselves. We monitor our own way to make an impact, then them and let them grow for 12-18 super corals planted we’re connecting, trying to combine our months until they’re an ideal size. Then back onto reefs actions and skills for the same cause. It’s

KELSEY WILLIAMSON we’ll put them back onto a damaged reef only together that we can create hope.” in the hope they’ll grow. If so, a couple worldwide by 2025” coralgardeners.org

THE RED BULLETIN 39 Photo by Dean Treml

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When 2020 was turned upside down, these sporting Brits managed not to lose BIGtheir nerve. Instead,GER they reframed and refocused their efforts and have new world records, sporting titles and – in some cases – jellyfish stings to show for it. Here, they share their insights to help you live your best 2021

Giant steps: Donnie Campbell in the Isle of Skye on his record-breaking

COLIN HENDERSONCOLIN ascent of all 282 of Scotland’s Munros Words MARK BAILEY

41 Donnie Campbell Ran up all 282 Munros in less than 32 days

Some athletes reacted to the pandemic by scaling back their plans, but Donnie Campbell refused to think small. Having dreamed of running up all of Scotland’s 282 Munros – the name given to any Scottish peak taller than 3,000ft (914m) – for many years, and committed to achieving it in 2020, the ex-Marine battled on with his plan. “People said I couldn’t do it, but I wanted to show them I could,” says the 35-year-old coach from Inverness. “So I rescheduled it from May to August with my wife Rachael s the world spiralled into chaos now driving the support van.” last year, many people watched Campbell says the secret to his determination lies in knowing their dreams shrivel and disappear. how to stay motivated. The process ABut a steely group of athletes and starts by setting a deeply personal goal, but it often requires mind adventurers counterattacked by games, too: “I knew that to do the teeing up their biggest challenges cold, boggy Munros on the West Coast I’d need extra motivation, so yet – and achieved a host of world the idea of doing them all at once, records, lifelong goals and personal while cycling and kayaking between bests in the process. Their triumphs them, provided that. I also chose not to climb some of them on my show that with energy, resilience recce runs so I couldn’t quit the and creativity you can accomplish challenge and tell myself I’d done them all separately in training.” amazing things, even in a world of After starting with an ascent of frightening uncertainty. Ben More on the Isle of Mull on August 1, Campbell spent weeks Whether fighting for sporting running over leg-sapping terrain, immortality or safeguarding their and kayaking or cycling between mental health, raising funds for each Munro. But he had steeled his mind by doing hill reps in charity or seeking personal discovery, training. “My time in the Marines these heroes converted dark days taught me you have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. into golden memories, proving that If you simply accept that you’re an effective response to hard times is going to be in pain, you can then learn how to deal with it by making not to downsize your dreams but to plans for recovery, food and sleep. push your plans even further. After a 16-hour day of running, Here, some of the most inspiring I would get to bed by 9pm and eat lentil Bolognese to recover.” athletes of the pandemic era reveal On tough days he used positive the psychological secrets behind their self-talk to stay focused. “I said, ‘Today I’ll cover this distance, and motivation, focus and inner drive, anything over that is a bonus.’” JON SUTS JON to help you make the most of 2021. Campbell enjoyed mood-boosting

42 THE RED BULLETIN Think bigger

Carla Molinaro Broke the Land’s End to John o’ Groats record “MY TIME IN

THE MARINES Carla Molinaro needs a challenge. So when the ultrarunner – a gold medallist at the brutal 89km TAUGHT ME YOU Comrades Marathon in South Africa – was trapped by a COVID- HAVE TO GET 19 lockdown while training there last year and all her races were COMFORTABLE cancelled, she felt lost. But she fought back by conjuring up the adventure of a lifetime: a record- BEING chasing 1,327km run from Land’s End to John o’ Groats (LEJOG). UNCOMFORTABLE” “Rather than get frustrated, I realised this is the perfect time to do a mega challenge,” says the 36-year-old from Buckinghamshire. “And I thought it would be amazing to see the UK in this intimate way.” A former Army operations officer, Molinaro relied on military- style planning and pragmatism. She stayed fit by doing reps of the Left: Donnie Campbell driveway at her lockdown home: – man on a Munro “I told myself it was good mental mission; below: Carla training for the monotony of Molinaro’s athletic LEJOG.” On returning to the UK, achievements include an epic 240km run she trained by running 15km on along Australia’s four consecutive days, then Great Ocean Road lengthened her runs by 5km each week: “I focused on what I could do, not what I couldn’t.” She took her first strides from Land’s End at 5am on July 16. Cheered on by her sister Andrea, rewards like chocolate or salt-and- who drove the motorhome she vinegar crisps. And if he felt his slept in each night, Molinaro motivation waning, he challenged powered through Cornwall, the his negative perspective. “I was Lake District and the Highlands. dropping into glens few people In dark moments, she recited her have visited because they are so pain-neutralising mantra, “This remote. So I told myself, ‘This will pass”, or visualised her might be the only time in your life achievements so far: “You forget you’ll see these beautiful places.’” all the pain when you look at a map After 1,340km of running and and see how far you’ve run.” 126,143m of climbing, Campbell Tortured by blisters and shin finished on Ben Hope in northern pain, Molinaro reached John o’ Scotland on September 2, with Groats at 5.30am on July 28, after a new record time of 31 days, 12 days, 30 minutes and 14 seconds 23 hours and 2 minutes. “It was – a new women’s world record. “It’s a weird feeling,” he says. “I was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” sad that the journey was over, but she says. “But, rather than hide in also completely relieved I didn’t my comfort zone, I like to shake have to get up at 5am to run.” things up and show what’s possible.”

THE RED BULLETIN 43 Harry Coppell because it’s “the closest you can began doing 40m sprints on get to flying”. But at the start of football or cricket pitches: Set a new 2020 he was under major pressure. “Running was a weakness in British record in “I’d just moved to Loughborough terms of my technical form and to train full-time, but I had no job, how I put force through the track, pole vaulting no sponsor and no kit deals, so so all that extra work really I really had to make an impact helped.” He sharpened his vaulting that year. Then COVID hit and technique through video analysis, Last September, in the toughest everything went up in the air.” performed parallel bar exercises year of his life, Lancashire pole- Coppell decided the best way to in the gym to build his strength, vaulter Harry Coppell soared to stay motivated was to focus on and hurled shot puts to boost his a new British record of 5.85m – process goals: all the small weekly power. “For the pole vault, you 1.4m higher than a double-decker gains in his strength, technique and have to be a sprinter, weightlifter bus – at the delayed British agility that would sharpen his and gymnast,” he says. Athletics Championships. “I still vaults when competitions resumed. By focusing on process goals, get messages when friends see the Even if your goal is on hold, you can Coppell was primed to deliver the video online,” laughs the 24-year- still build the skills needed to performance of his life at the old, who is now sixth in the world achieve it. “I tried to salvage my championships, providing an extra rankings. “To know I’ve gone season by setting realistic goals “EVEN IF YOUR surge of confidence in Olympics higher than anyone in this country and focusing on all the physical year. “All those little things clicked has ever been is a crazy feeling.” aspects necessary to get better. GOAL IS ON into place,” he says. “I love the Coppell loves to explore his Everything I did was purposeful: if feeling of competing, but I’ve now limits: he grew up racing BMX I know why I’m doing something, learned that even if you don’t have bikes, wants to train for a pilot’s that motivates me to keep doing it.” HOLD, YOU CAN a competition you should never licence, and enjoys pole vaulting To improve his run-up, Coppell waste an opportunity to get better.” STILL BUILD THE SKILLS NEEDED TO ACHIEVE IT”

Big numbers: Harry Coppell’s record- breaking pole vault of 5.85m is made official at the 2020

British Athletics GETTY IMAGES Championships

44 THE RED BULLETIN Think bigger

and focus, she’s powering into 2021 as the new British 400m hurdles champion. “I really shocked myself,” admits Knight. “I thought I might lose focus and think, ‘This year is a write-off.’ So I’m proud I won the British title even without perfect preparation. I was out of my comfort zone all year, but I kept working hard towards whatever might come up.” When her races were cancelled, Knight switched her focus from external events to personal progress to help maintain her momentum. She worked on her stride patterns, performed Russian twists to improve core strength, and upgraded her carb intake from bread to rice – a lower-calorie option – in a bid to trim down. “It was a real psychological battle, because everything I’d worked towards was cancelled. So I just focused on myself. Even in lockdown, I was sprinting up my road at full pace. My neighbours didn’t know I’m an athlete, but they do now. As athletes we’re normally goal-oriented, but this year showed me I can push my body any time I want, just because I love doing what I’m doing.” Knight had enjoyed a stunning start to 2020 with victories in the 400m at the Indoor Grand Prix and British Indoor Championships, both in Glasgow in February. But while some athletes lost momentum during the pandemic, she retained enough focus to take “IN LOCKDOWN, the British 400m hurdles title in September. “By focusing on my personal progress, I was able to I WAS SPRINTING keep that momentum all year – even though some days I didn’t UP MY ROAD AT even have a track to train on.” If Knight has handled the FULL PACE. MY disruption wreaked by COVID-19 Jessie Knight British athlete Jessie Knight could better than others, it’s because have been excused for taking she knows how to turn hard times Became British things easy when the 2020 NEIGHBOURS into motivational rocket fuel. 400m hurdles athletics season was thrown into “I was gutted to miss out on the turmoil. Unlike her high-profile DIDN’T KNOW I’M World Championships in 2019, so champion rivals, the 25-year-old primary- I had extra hunger in me. When school teacher from Surrey trains AN ATHLETE – you have success, you can get part-time, doing sprint drills and complacent, but I was determined gym sessions after school, before to make progress in 2020. I now returning home to grab dinner at THEY DO NOW” want to get on the Olympic team 10pm. But through perseverance and make this year even better.”

THE RED BULLETIN 45 “IF YOU KEEP IN GOOD SHAPE,

Jordan Wylie STAY POSITIVE Circumnavigated AND SURROUND Great Britain on a paddleboard YOURSELF WITH GREAT PEOPLE, Soldier-turned-adventurer Jordan Wylie was aiming to run ANYTHING IS marathons in 10 of the coldest places on Earth, to raise funds for a school for refugees in Djibouti, POSSIBLE” when COVID-19 crushed his plans. “I had a great start to 2020, completing marathons in Siberia, Yukon, Alaska and Iceland, and then the North Pole marathon was terminated,” says Wylie, 37. “I needed to quickly find a new project to continue my fundraising – and for my own mental health.” Wylie’s past adventures include rowing the pirate-stalked Bab el-Mandeb Straits between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, and running through Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia for charity. But his new creation was The Great British Paddle: a mission to become the first person to stand-up paddleboard more than 2,000 miles (3,218km) around Britain. “I was new to the sport,” he says, “but if you keep in good shape, have a positive mindset and surround yourself with great people, anything is possible.” Since departing Essex Marina in July, Wylie has faced fierce tides, brutal heat and stinging sleet showers. Because of COVID restrictions, he has to sleep on a support boat instead of returning to shore each night. And an incident with a jet skier saw him I’ve lost who are no longer with us Wylie’s aquatic adventure, which lacerate his leg and suffer cellulitis and who would do anything for he hopes to finish in March, has – a serious skin infection. But Wylie another minute in this world.” also shown him the value of has stayed strong by focusing on Thanks to this, Wylie has patience. Confronting nature three key mental skills: resilience, enjoyed stunning moments at sea, forces you to accept that you can’t discipline and patience. from witnessing a rainbow over control every aspect of your life, “Going around Scotland in Lundy Island to paddling alongside he explains. “Adventure allows the winter requires a lot of dolphins and seals. But sometimes me to live in the present,” says resilience, because Mother Nature even resilience is not enough – Wylie. “Having taken medication is chewing you up and spitting you Standing strong: whether discipline is required, too. “There for years for anxiety and out daily,” he says. To enhance his running marathons in will always be days when we don’t depression, I know how much of fortitude, the former soldier draws the extreme cold or feel motivated, so you need to be a positive impact adventures tracing the coastline of on a deep sense of gratitude. “I try disciplined in still going out to sea can have on our mental health. Britain by paddleboard, to be conscientiously grateful for resilience, discipline and each day, or putting on that cold, I encourage everyone to look up the adventure I am on. When I need damp wetsuit, even when you from their screens and dream patience have remained ALFIE MARSH, GETTY IMAGES to dig deep, I think about friends key skills for Wylie really don’t want to.” big in the outdoors.”

46 THE RED BULLETIN Think bigger

Imani-Lara “Having so much on my plate and achieve today.’ And that’s what but I’ve never had a British medal everything being so chaotic actually kept me motivated all year.” before. So you can’t discredit those Lansiquot forced me to get to a very ‘still’ By focusing on her personal kinds of experiences. I now know Claimed her first place and become focused on the daily ‘performance’, she what it’s like to win.” intricacies of my routine,” explains discovered new reserves of mental The sprinter maintains the same 100m title the 23-year-old. “That was the strength. “I had to push myself, positive outlook off the track: after only way I could feel in control. because I couldn’t rely on being racially abused at a sponsor’s It backed me into a corner, so someone shouting at me to keep event in early 2020, she used the Imani-Lara Lansiquot was already I kind of went into ‘survival mode’, me going. And that raw ‘Why are pain as motivation to become stressed out by her university getting into the nitty-gritty of my you doing this?’ really put some Athlete Lead for British Athletics’ studies – specifically her 15,000- routine and breaking things down.” fire back in my belly, elevated my Equality, Diversity and Inclusion word dissertation for the final year Setting a daily routine competitive game, and showed me Advocates Group. “I was really upset, of her psychology degree course sharpened Lansiquot’s focus on how much I can do by myself.” devastated. But I was lucky to have at King’s College London – when difficult days. “I had some clear Lansiquot had won 2018 great people around me who said, she heard that her first Olympics goals each day with two or three European gold and 2019 World ‘Listen, it’s not enough just to have had been postponed. But the things to do: I’m going to get 500 silver in the 4x100m relay, but her words, you need to have action.’ Croydon-based sprinter made it words down; I’m going to do my first solo 100m British title was That’s what my new role is about.” a year to remember by claiming gym session in the garden; I’m a huge boost ahead of Tokyo. “I After a tough year, Lansiquot her first 100m title at the British going to stretch. I just made sure could have decided, ‘Forget this feels stronger than ever. “I’ve Athletics Championships – and that I could execute that list as year, let’s get a glass of wine and matured a lot,” she says, “and completing her degree. The well as I could, so that I had some let it all go.’ But I kept at it. And I would prefer to go to the Olympics secret, she says, was keeping an structure to my days. I would write I wanted to have a reward for that as the Imani I am now than the intensely focused routine. down, ‘This is what I want to hard work. I have shown potential, Imani I was a year ago.”

“I HAD TO PUSH MYSELF, BECAUSE I COULDN’T RELY ON SOMEONE SHOUTING AT ME TO KEEP ME GOING”

Fast learner: Imani-Lara Lansiquot strides to victory in the 100m final at the British Athletics Championships in Manchester last September

THE RED BULLETIN 47 Moved to tears: an emotional Josh Quigley is greeted by his aunt after reaching Inverness, the finishing point of the North Coast 500

Josh Quigley show what we can,” says the and fracturing his skull. So, when 28-year-old from Livingston. “It’s the pandemic struck, he refused to Fought back from about accepting and responding wallow in pity. “My goal had been injury to break to the environment. I couldn’t to recover and then go back to travel abroad, but I could do this.” America, but when COVID ended cycling record Quigley broke the record by that, I needed a new project. This just four minutes and 27 seconds, challenge excited me. When you’ve proving the thrill of competition come through a bad experience, Hungry for adrenalin and adventure is possible even without formal nothing much frightens you.” at a time of rigid travel restrictions, events. “It was so tight, nobody But how did he stay motivated ultra-endurance cyclist Josh knew if I would do it – not me, not when his muscles were flaming with Quigley decided to ride the North the spectators cheering me on “THE POWER OF lactate? “The power of commitment Coast 500 – a gruelling 516-mile from bridges, or the 36,000 is so important,” says Quigley. (830km) Scottish coastal route – in people following my dot on the live “I made a decision when I left my just one go. After a turbo-charged tracker. To do it by such a tight COMMITMENT IS house that I’m going to do this, no dash past mountains and beaches, margin made it so special.” matter what. As soon as you make covering 10,635m of ascent – Quigley was able to keep his SO IMPORTANT. that commitment, there’s no Plan a higher cumulative elevation focus last year because of some B, no alternatives and no quitting.” gain than on an ascent of Mount hard-earned perspective. At the THERE’S NO Whether racing around the Everest – he reached Inverness end of 2019, he was just 3,000km world or blasting across Scotland, Castle in a record time of 31 hours, away from completing a 29,000km Quigley is driven on by a simple 19 minutes and eight seconds. round-the-world cycling challenge PLAN B, NO mantra: “Keep moving forward. “There is so much focus on what when he was hit by a car in Texas, Each day, we all have to wake up THOMAS HAYWOOD THOMAS we can’t do right now, I wanted to breaking 10 ribs, puncturing a lung QUITTING” and keep moving forward.”

48 THE RED BULLETIN Think bigger

Chris Judge COVID lockdown, we were only 60-per-cent fit, because all the Braved jellyfish pools were closed, which meant on two record- we couldn’t train,” he explains. “I had to get up at 5am to train breaking swims outdoors in Lough Neagh [the largest lake in the whole of the British Isles, located in Northern Chris Judge and the Oa Giants Ireland]. So this was about relay team shattered two world willpower, brute force and records last year in the most friendship. The challenge had turbulent, jellyfish-infested waters been planned for years, so we in the British Isles. On August 2, wanted to finish it together.” they swam 35km from Northern A gifted youth swimmer who Ireland to Scotland to break the later discovered the joys of open- North Channel relay record in a water swimming, Judge was joined time of nine hours, two minutes by fellow Northern Irelanders and 41 seconds. And just six Keith Garry, Dominic Mudge, Bill days later they made the 51.8km Donnelly, Colin Lindsay and John crossing of the Oa Channel McElroy. For both records, each between Islay, Scotland, and the swimmer performed one-hour Giant’s Causeway, Northern relay efforts before crawling, Ireland – where fierce Atlantic shivering and exhausted, onto “WHEN I GOT currents meet the swirling Irish the Infinity Channel Swimming Sea – in 16 hours, 57 minutes support boat. COLD, I WOULD and 43 seconds. But the big challenge was how Despite the scale of the to calm their fears. “This area is team’s achievements, Judge, a a haven for lion’s mane jellyfish,” VISUALISE 38-year-old council worker from says Judge. “At night, the crew Portadown, insists their success shone a light on the water, and CANDLES was built on mental steel, not when it hit one they looked pretty physical strength. “Due to the scary. The stings on my face were AND FIRE TO the worst. Even when I was on the boat, I would hear the jellyfish warning whistle being blown and TRICK MYSELF the swimmer roaring with pain. And you know you’re next…” INTO FEELING Judge used different strategies to control his mind. “To calm my WARM“ fears, I would pray or sing a song in the water, and before I knew it ten minutes had gone. When I got cold, I would visualise candles and fire to trick myself into feeling warm. But, when the pain kicked in, the motivation was just about not letting your friends down. Colin was badly hit by COVID earlier in the year, but he swam his heart out. I wanted to knock it out the park for the team.” Their two new world records made all the suffering worthwhile. “We finished the second swim on the Giant’s Causeway, which is such an iconic location,” says Judge. “The tourists were all staring at us. We’re called the Oa Giants, and we really felt like giants when we were standing on those rocks.”

THE RED BULLETIN 49 Keep on truckin’ It was one of the last big motorsports events to take place before last year’s global lockdown. Now, as the world shakes off its stasis, THE MINT 400 is revving up once more. America’s oldest desert rally has endured throughout the many upheavals in its nation’s history, and it remains as wild as ever…

Words TOM GUISE Photography GAVIN BOND Two-time overall winner (2013 and 2018) Bryce Menzies tackles the 2020 Mint 400 in his trophy truck, a vehicle capable of jumping more than 45m. “You’re doing four laps of 100 miles [160km],” says the American. “It’s an iconic race.”

51 The Mint 400

688km blast through the Mojave A year on, the world has changed, but, against the Desert, The Mint 400 began in 1968 odds, The Mint 400 is back. This isn’t the first time as a PR stunt for the annual deer hunt the event has been in peril – for two decades, it didn’t of Las Vegas hotel and casino The run. When casino owner Jack Binion bought The Mint Mint. But the event, which starts and hotel in 1988, he shut down the race as he believed it Afinishes just beyond the glare of the Las Vegas negatively impacted on his businesses. It wasn’t until Strip, soon transformed into something bigger: 2008 that the rights were bought by Matt and Joshua the ‘Great American Off-Road Race’. “I first went Martelli, makers of viral motorsports series Ken Block’s in 2018,” says British photographer Gavin Bond. Gymkhana. Today, The Mint and many surrounding “It was the 50th anniversary, and I knew nothing casinos are gone, replaced by entertainment complexes. about it. My producer in LA – this English guy But the race endures, just as it did throughout the era called Skinny – is an amateur petrolhead. He got of the Hollywood macho man – when the likes of Steve one of those competition trucks and entered, McQueen and James Garner took part – and the birth so I went along. I fell in love with the race and of gonzo journalism; it was while covering The Mint 400 knew I had to go back to shoot it.” And that’s for Sports Illustrated that author Hunter S Thompson what he did in March 2020. What Bond didn’t was inspired to pen his classic travelogue Fear and know at the time was that the motorsports Loathing in Las Vegas. “You couldn’t have anything scenes he’d capture would be among the last more ‘America’,” says Bond of the race. The lensman before everyday life transformed for ever – set out to document a sporting event, but, like 12 days later, the world went into lockdown. Thompson, found something more raw and fascinating.

52 THE RED BULLETIN The day before the main race, bikes take to the field. “They were part of the original Mint 400, mixed in with the cars, which was crazy,” says co-owner Matt Martelli. “That stopped [in 1976] for insurance reasons. We brought them back in 2018.” Two vintage classes (1980-90, and earlier) are mixed in with pro and amateur riders, a women’s category and even father/son teams. “Bikes have always been the gateway to off- roading. Most racers started on one.” The Mint 400

“It’s definitely a family affair. One guy rides one truck, the son rides in the other truck, and the daughter rides the bike” Photographer Gavin Bond

Left: Red Bull driver Seth Quintero waits by his UTV Pro N/A (utility terrain vehicle, non- aspirated, meaning it isn’t turbo- or super- charged). In 2019, aged 16, the Alabama- born rider entered the history books as the youngest Mint 400 winner in the UTV Pro Turbo category. “This shot is before the race. It’s hot and they just want to get out on the track,” says Bond. Quintero failed to finish in 2020 after crashing out.

Opposite page: a mix of trophy trucks and UTVs in action.

54 THE RED BULLETIN THE RED BULLETIN 55 The Mint 400

Above: “The calm “I had radio info before the storm – that Bryce Menzies a 400-mile war in the [pictured far right of Mojave Desert for the this page] was about next six-to-12 hours,” to refuel, so I raced says Martelli of the back and got this race start. “As these great shot of Red guys drive around, Bull waiting there helicopters are with the fuel lines flying around, getting ready… but the car intel on the race and just didn’t stop.” explaining to the driver who they’re Right: “I didn’t notice chasing,” says Bond. the Trump/Pence “That’s how much decal when I took money they throw this shot. Now it’s at this thing.” special.” On the issue of competitors Left: “There are fronting their political three pits: two in the affiliations, Martelli desert, this one is by is matter-of-fact: the start,” says Bond. “Run your colours.”

56 THE RED BULLETIN “These trucks come in with pieces hanging off them,” says Bond. “The guy underneath is fixing something that fell off during the race. The colours you can see are from the lights of the stage where they receive their prize. Even if you come 15th, you get a little medal”

THE RED BULLETIN 57 The Mint 400

Joseph Jepson of the Diamond J Racing team in his Alumi Craft open-wheel buggy. “This is in Class 10 – the ‘racer’s’ class with equal cars – which is very competitive,” says Martelli. “I’m shooting on a long lens,” says Bond, “but I was probably closer than I should have been. You’re out in the middle of nowhere with five or six other photographers, all trying to get the best shot, and sometimes you get led astray.” “There are no boundaries in the middle of the desert, just flags,” says Bond of photographing The Mint 400. “Suddenly you find a car hurtling towards you and it doesn’t control itself very well. You just have to dive out of the way. It’s definitely dangerous”

59 The Mint 400

“This is the start of the race,” says Bond. “Just out of shot behind the orange vehicle [top, right] is a bandstand where Eagles of Death Metal performed the night before. Here, the trucks are jockeying for position. They come off the hill, then out into the desert, trying to get away from each other.”

60 THE RED BULLETIN Left: Trucks on the Above: Former winner starting grid, in Travis Chase (right) their qualifying and co-driver Jacob positions. “If I was to Lauxen claim their look to my left, I’d finisher’s medals. see the rollercoaster Among the other of Buffalo Bill’s competitors were [Resort & Casino],” UFC fighter Donald says Bond. “It’s where Cerrone, who fought the competitors and lost to Conor stay, about 40 McGregor two months minutes from the before the race. strip. It’s $18 a night “He calls himself and it’s pretty ‘Cowboy’,” says Bond. horrible – the kind “The race draws a of place for people certain type, and he’s who don’t even make that type – he looks it to Vegas.” like America.”

The Mint 400 takes place in Las Vegas from March 3-7; themint400.com

THE RED BULLETIN 61 Pitch shift

With her music career on an enforced hiatus, DJ and broadcaster Lucy Monkman, aka MONKI, had to find an alternative outlet for her boundless energy – and life Words EMMA FINAMORE has never been better Photography GREG COLEMAN

62 THE RED BULLETIN Game on: thanks to her inexhaustible work ethic, Monki has risen from pirate- radio station intern to accomplished DJ, podcaster and footballer Lucy Monkman – better known as Monki, the DJ, producer, label founder and “I now do this thing broadcaster who has brought us some of the freshest and most innovative electronic sounds around – is revealing where I don’t some of the small, unexpectedly quiet ways she has navigated this, the most difficult of years. “Sometimes I find use my iPhone on myself just scrolling and I don’t even know what I’m looking at,” says the Londoner. She’s been reflecting, reading, Tuesdays” listening to a lot of podcasts, and she has also taken up meditation, which she credits to her girlfriend. “Wellbeing stuff. When you’re younger, you think it’s a bit wishy-washy. But it’s real.” At 29, Monki may be an updated version of her younger self, but she’s lost

64 THE RED BULLETIN Monki

Our interview takes place in a park near Leyton, east London, on a freezing but “When I quit bright day. Monki’s look is casual and pared-down yet polished: jeans, trainers, school, there was bright white sports socks, a neat beanie. As she reminisces about her unlikely rise a sense of ‘Well, to fame, each word carefully considered, there’s an unmistakable energy bubbling now I can’t fail’” beneath the calm surface. It’s a quality that has played a big part in her success. Monki grew up in Kingston upon Thames on the outskirts of south-west London. At home, she was surrounded by electronic music – from The Chemical just to her keen ear, but also to a DIY Brothers, Prodigy and 808 State on her attitude and inexhaustible work ethic. mum’s stereo, to the garage tunes her She used her time at the station to hone uncle spun, to the dubstep and grime she her engineering and mixing skills – listened to on pirate radio. “I really got “They gave me my first show, and the into music because of radio,” Monki says, equipment, because I couldn’t afford emphasising the importance of pirates my own” – and to forge vital industry such as Rinse FM and Deja Vu, which connections. One night after a shift, transmitted the beats and voices of the she recorded a 20-minute set and sent underground across city rooftops and it to childhood hero Annie Mac, who into hungry young ears. “I remember she’d connected with years earlier via tuning in late at night and hearing dance MySpace. As a result, Mac gave Monki music that I’d never heard before.” her first-ever gig, at KOKO in Camden, These stations were the training ground north London. In addition to stints at for UK pioneers including So Solid Crew iconic clubs Ministry of Sound and Fabric, and Wiley; the place where MCs such this led to the fledgling DJ getting a as Dizzee, Kano and Ghetts honed show on BBC Radio 1Xtra and then, aged their rap skills; and a space in which just 21, a coveted slot on BBC Radio 1. homegrown sounds were given room “When I’d quit education, there was a to flex and develop, away from licence- sense of ‘Well, I can’t fail’,” she says. “I fee payers, advertisers or regulators. had nothing to fall back on. So that was Not content with being a fan, Monki my mantra at that age – it was an ‘all or decided to become part of this world. nothing’ sort of mindset. And it worked. After hearing DJ Annie Mac play Skream’s Because you’re young, you just do it.” ice-cold dubstep ‘Let’s Get Ravey’ remix That ‘just do it’ attitude has taken of La Roux’s In For The Kill on the radio Monki to the top of her game in music. one evening, she quit school the next She’s now a major force in deep house day. The 16-year-old managed to land and techno, and a deft selector when it an internship at Rinse during a pivotal comes to crafting crowd-pleasing sets. time when the artists the station worked As well as playing everything from disco none of the drive and ambition of that with were blowing up, and she was on and soul to electronica and piano house football-loving, music-obsessed teen. champagne-buying duties when, in 2010, on the airwaves and in clubs, Monki has Having made her name with a BBC Radio the station won an official licence and produced and released her own music, 1 show, her own label, and countless became legit. “It was all really exciting – putting out EPs featuring a rich mix of international tours as a DJ, she’s also I was around DJs I looked up to and felt producers, MCs and vocalists. She gaining a reputation on the football really inspired to be like at some point,” released a live EP with Fabric while still pitch – she plays in the fifth tier of the Monki remembers. “Katy B [whose career a teenager, splicing together house, women’s game, for Dulwich Hamlet FC was launched by Rinse] became a pop UK garage and grime. Monki also has Ladies – and as a podcaster; her series on star when dubstep went global, Magnetic her own label, ZOO Music, as an outlet the 2019 Women’s World Cup, Football Man [a dubstep ‘supergroup’ comprising for all the unreleased jams that fill her Inside Out, won the Best Sport category Rinse DJ/producers Skream, Benga and inbox. And she has taken this energy at the British Podcast Awards. Artwork] became huge... all from a radio out on the road every year, playing all Monki has managed what most station in the East End.” over the globe or at her own curated people don’t: she’s made all her teenage Like Rinse founder Geeneus – who set UK night, Monki & Friends. dreams come true. “It’s taken some time up his station at the age of 16, balancing But then the pandemic hit. Monki to work it out,” she says. “Now [my decks on top of a homemade transmitter describes the effect as being like a freight passions] have actually come together in an 18th-floor flat in Tower Hamlets – train slamming on its brakes. “I’d gone really well, and I’m so happy they did.” Monki has made it in music thanks not full pelt for ten years and then, all of a

THE RED BULLETIN 65 In the mix: Monki is equally at home in the studio or (opposite page) on the football pitch, playing for Dulwich Hamlet FC Ladies Monki

sudden, just a hard stop.” Clubs were trajectory, attracting larger crowds than closed, tours were suspended, and Monki many clubs further up the football food- “I didn’t tell my found herself at home without much to chain. Last year, in their first season in do. “The plan was to come back for a the London & South East Premier teammates what week, but in that seven days everything Division, they were top of the table when changed.” For someone who’d always – sadly – the league was abandoned I did. I just wanted had a very clear vision of the future, even because of the pandemic. The club is as a teen – “When I quit school I was like, something of a family, too – players and to play football” ‘This is my 10-year plan, I want to be on supporters came together to raise more Radio 1 by the time I’m 26’”– this was than £10,000 when beloved manager a severe shock to the system. “It’s the Farouk Menia passed away in 2019, most I’ve ever been home in 10 years,” and it provides vital LGBTQ support in Monki says. “What all of us lost was a the community. connection with people. It was a massive It was Monki’s lifelong love of sport loss. I thought I might handle it better, that got her through lockdown. She but I was actually quite down.” used the time to reconnect with training Monki’s aforementioned work ethic and also to build on her new-found didn’t allow her to slow down for long, enthusiasm for sports broadcasting. however. Football gave her another This was boosted further when Football focus, somewhere to channel her energy. Inside Out won the British Podcast Award. The beautiful game had, in fact, been “It opened my eyes,” she says of the part of her original career plan before realisation she could combine her two she fell in love with music, but at 14 she worlds. “I love broadcasting – podcasting discovered that – at the time – women was something I’d wanted to do anyway weren’t paid for playing. “You could play – but this was something else, not for Arsenal or Chelsea, but it wasn’t your music.” It was really intense, but a great job,” she says. “At the time, [female] experience.” Never one to do anything England players had to pay for their own but football matches by halves, Monki kit! It broke my heart. So I fell out of love has since presented The Kick Off – a with it. If I can’t do it how I want to do it, livestreaming UEFA Champions League then I don’t want to do it.” party hosted by Heineken and Defected It makes sense that Monki would apply It was in her mid-twenties, with her – and worked with sporting legend Peter her boundless energy to a project such music career in full swing, that football Crouch on BT Sport. as this, being someone who has visibly crept back into Monki’s life. “It took a What was at first an uncomfortable boosted female representation in several while,” she says, “but I realised I really change of pace when the pandemic hit male-dominated fields. This includes missed playing sport.” After getting back has now made Monki rethink her future. success in the largely masculine world into the game via casual five-a-side “I’ve slowly come to the conclusion that of electronic music, becoming the first- matches, Monki joined Dulwich Hamlet I do love playing shows, but I don’t want ever woman of East Asian heritage to FC Ladies and began living a “double it to be my whole life,” she says. “This host a BBC Radio 1 show – “I wasn’t life”, as she describes it. “I kept football year has been very much about what aware of that until 2020. I didn’t see and sport separate [from music]. I didn’t I want to do beyond touring and being myself as that person at the time. I wish hang out with my team – I just turned behind the decks. During the second I’d celebrated it more” – and, of course, up, trained and played. I didn’t tell lockdown, I teamed up with a bunch playing women’s football. everyone what I did. I just wanted to of others to work on ideas for a women’s But, despite her plans to improve play football. I wanted to be treated like sports platform, which will hopefully the health of countless women, and everyone else. But, when they found out, launch this year.” the fact that Asian girls have contacted they just treated me the same. Everyone The platform doesn’t yet have a name, Monki to tell her how much she’s is equal. That’s why I love sport – no one but it does have a strong ethos: “There inspired them, she doesn’t view herself gives a crap what you do.” are some great football and sports content as someone pushing for equality. Her These days, Monki is a linchpin of makers [out there], but what we want to boundary-breaking is more personal, the club. “I’m so involved [with Dulwich do is concentrate less on any sport itself centred purely around her tenacity to Hamlet] – my girlfriend’s the captain, and more on encouraging women to do what she loves, despite any risks or and we’re like ambassadors,” she says move in any capacity.” Monkman quotes hurdles. Now, finding the space in the of her about-turn. “I work with them recent research by Sports England, Venn diagram where her passions doing community stuff, and I run their which found that 39 per cent of women overlap has given her the tools to push social channels as a volunteer. I’m, like, are not active enough, the most common through strange times – and even emerge all in.” Rebranded in 2019 after nine reasons being a fear of judgement and stronger. “I feel like I’m being more ‘me’, years as AFC Phoenix – a team that, lack of confidence. “Not everybody loves living this way, with more integrity,” for much of that time, didn’t even have sports like I love football, but it’s so she says. “And that’s the goal, isn’t it?

LIAM ASMAN LIAM matching kit – Dulwich Hamlet Ladies important to get exercise, even if it’s just That is literally the goal.” have found themselves on an upward going for a walk with your mates.” monkidj.com

THE RED BULLETIN 67 Bloom time The England women’s rugby team, the RED ROSES, are on a winning streak. Fuelled by a lifelong passion, the squad’s now-professional status, and the finest chicken wings they’ve tasted, three key players tell us why their best is yet to come… GETTY IMAGES Words JESSICA HAYDENYDEN Prop star: Hannah Botterman (centre) celebrates after scoring England’s sixth try in the Women’s Six Nations match against France in February 2019

69 eing an elite female rugby player is tough, but not only for the reasons that first come to mind. Sure, you must be prepared for hard knocks on the pitch. But, as well as this, most international players manage their (unpaid) rugby career on top of full-time work. In fact, while France and New Zealand have some semi- professional players, England has the world’s only fully professional exciting year yet for women’s rugby. As confirmation women’s rugby team – a change that came into force of the sport’s growing popularity, every game in just two years ago. The current squad of the Red the Women’s Six Nations is set to be broadcast live BRoses, as the team are known, includes a former on the BBC for the first time, followed by the biggest diver, firefighter and gas engineer. Prop Hannah event in the women’s calendar: the 2021 Rugby Botterman previously worked as both a waitress World Cup, which is due to be hosted by New and a painter and decorator – roles she juggled Zealand this autumn. simultaneously with appearances for top rugby Botterman, Zoe Aldcroft and Sarah Bern are union club Saracens and England. three players at the heart of the England team’s When, in January 2019, 28 players were named rise to glory. All are rugby forwards, and all – as in England’s full-time professional XVs squad, it painful testament to the rigours of the sport – are signalled a step-up in status for the women’s game currently rehabbing injuries, but are determined here, which has since been mirrored in both the to get back out on the pitch to compete. Red Roses’ on-pitch success and growing fanbase. Botterman, who is out with an ankle injury, is The team won the Grand Slam in the 2019 and the youngest of the three, but already boasts an 2020 Women’s Six Nations tournaments, then two impressive 20 caps for the national side and is also hotly contested games against closest European still at Saracens. The Hertfordshire-born 21-year-old rivals France last autumn, which were broadcast live comes from true rugby stock: since the age of four, on BBC Two to a peak audience of 800,000 viewers. she has watched both parents play the sport – her Barring further interruption due to the global dad on a Saturday, her mum on a Sunday – and her pandemic, 2021 is gearing up to be the most uncle, Gregg Botterman, and aunt, Jane Everett, both turned out for England. Aldcroft, who’s recovering after breaking her foot for the third time in her career, plays as second row for both England and Gloucester-Hartpury Women. The 24-year-old has 20 caps for her country and last year won the Rugby Players’ Association Telegraph Women’s Sport England Player of the Year award. And we catch up with Bern at an England rehab camp where, following a shoulder injury, she’s been taking part in physio and training to prepare her for the new year. The 23-year-old prop has 36 caps for England and, despite being the youngest member of the squad at the 2017 Rugby World Cup, scored a try in the semi-final against France, which helped take her side through to the final, where they were defeated by New Zealand. Here, the three teammates – speaking to The Red Bulletin via Zoom, as has become the norm – give their insight into what only around 60 women in the world can: life as a professional rugby player.

Tough tactics: Botterman takes on Wales’ Natalia John at London’s

Twickenham GETTY IMAGES Stoop last March

70 THE RED BULLETIN Red Roses

Rush hour: Sarah Bern surges forward in the Six Nations against Italy last November

“Winning the World Cup is the ultimate goal as a player, the highest of the high”

the red bulletin: How did you first get into rugby? hannah botterman: I played rugby straight out of the womb, basically! I began when I was very young. And then, when I couldn’t play with the boys any more, I took up girl’s rugby at [Hertfordshire side] Welwyn RFC. After that, I went to Hartpury University and College, and then I played my first year of women’s rugby for [London team] Saracens – I’m still there now. sarah bern: Me and my cousin used to play sport a lot. And then he started playing rugby and I thought, “I’ll give it a go… I can beat him up, so I think I’ll be alright with the others!” I went to my first rugby tournament when I was 10. I was the only girl and I’d never met anyone there before. This old guy with the tackle pad said, “Run at me as hard as you can.” So I did. He ended up doing a backward somersault. He went flying! zoe aldcroft: I did everything when I was a child: played musical instruments; did dance, netball and rowing; took part Hard knock life: in loads of different sports… I started Zoe Aldcroft in action against playing rugby when I was eight. I played Ireland at Castle with the boys and then against the girls, Park, Doncaster, and finally I went to Hartpury. Then last February rugby it was!

THE RED BULLETIN 71 Turning professional in January In the warm-up of the second game of Hannah, you seemed to spend a lot 2019 must have been a pivotal the season [last year], I broke my foot of the downtime on Instagram… moment in your careers. How did again while landing in a line-out. This hb: Me and [fellow England player] it change things? is my third break in three years, which Poppy [Cleall] posted every Tuesday, hb: At the time of my first and second is really annoying. Since turning and I think people enjoyed it! We [England] cap, I was still painting professional, I’ve had better care, and thought that because there’s so much and decorating and also working as a the intensity of my rehab has been so bad stuff going on in the world, we waitress at Harvester. I was juggling it much better. should try to lighten things up. We did all, which was draining. I was working sb: A lot of athletes [at club level] have 10 episodes of just really random stuff. from 6am until 4pm, coming home, full-time jobs, too. At Bristol [Bears, People could pick what we did, so it then going into work from 5pm until her current team], we’ve got a fair few was mainly based around food, which 10pm, and doing rugby, too – it was players who are doctors or are in other is not surprising at all. We did some savage. Then I got my third cap and demanding jobs and don’t have a lot of eating challenges that were pretty rank realised I probably needed to drop the spare time to work on all the extras, like – there was one with hot wings that Harvester job. I wasn’t sad to see it go! rehab, prehab and neck strength. So was just disgusting – and a make-up sb: A lot of the girls at the club, from they have to do it in their own time, challenge. We also featured these different nations, have so many other with the support of their club’s S&C specific chicken wings because we’ve stresses, like getting to work on time, [strength and conditioning] and medical got an obsession with them. trying to squeeze the gym in, plus teams, which makes keeping on top of travelling. [The best part of turning those things harder for them. How did you get back to playing? professional] is just being able to focus sb: When everything stopped, our on yourself. All those other stresses are You were in the middle of a Grand season was null and void, which [at club eliminated, because your one job is to Slam winning streak when the Six level] was good for us because Bristol make sure you’re the best you can be. Nations stopped due to COVID-19. were seventh in the table. But I don’t think I’m friends with a lot of internationals, [table toppers] Saracens were very who all have to work extremely hard. happy! It was down to our clubs to give Rugby keeps demanding more as the us a programme [that ensured] when Premiership grows. I think everyone we returned we’d be in the best possible would want their unions to be like ours. “The best part shape. We managed to slowly progress Hopefully we’ll see other nations follow back into tiny sessions. You could do suit. It definitely needs to change. of turning pro handling, but you couldn’t tackle or touch. It was basically running and passing. It must make a difference to how is just being Then, when we came back into camp, much you can train, and the physical we weren’t allowed within two metres of care you receive… able to focus each other. We could only do contact za: I’ve experienced injury as both a once we had our test results, and even professional and an amateur player. on yourself” then only for a certain amount of time.

The effects of concussion in sport have become a hot topic recently. In rugby, a number of male players have revealed being diagnosed with early-onset dementia following multiple brain injuries. How has this news affected how you play? za: I think it’s about being more aware, when you are on the field, of how much a knock affects you. And if you do get a knock, you have to make sure you report it. Because sometimes, in the past, I’ve had a knock and then got a headache, but I’ve just thought, “I’ll be OK.” It’s good that they’re now doing more research so that hopefully in the future Irresistible force: we’re not going to get dementia. Botterman hb: It’s about just being aware, like Zoe holds off French said. It’s quite difficult on the pitch opponents on their home turf not to just carry on after taking a knock, in the Six Nations because that’s what everyone does –

match last as a player, you don’t ever want to come GETTY IMAGES February off the pitch for anything.

72 THE RED BULLETIN Red Roses

Above and beyond: Aldcroft soars high to win “We’re all on a line-out during England’s Six the same path, Nations match against Wales wanting to last March be the best in the world”

What would victory in the World Cup mean to you? hb: Quite a few of the girls won it in 2014, so they understand what that’s like. For me, it’s just the ultimate goal as a player. It’s everything you work towards, the highest of the high, so it would be incredible. But there’s a lot to work on between now and then.

What’s next for the women’s game? hb: When I got my first cap, we weren’t really selling out Doncaster [Castle Park, capacity 5,000]; now, we sell out Sandy Park [in Exeter], which is a 13,000-seater. The more we get onto mainstream TV channels, the more people can see what we’re producing, and it will only grow from there. It’s just a matter of time.

Given rugby’s physically punishing nature, what keeps you on the pitch? With the Rugby World Cup taking hb: We just love the sport. We enjoy place, 2021 should be an exciting year winning and that’s what drives us. Some for women’s rugby. How are you days are better than others, of course, feeling as you go into it? but playing for England… I struggle to za: I’m very excited about the World Cup describe it. It’s pure happiness. There’s in New Zealand. [The tournament is no feeling like it. being staged in Auckland and Whangārei.] za: I love the thrill of playing rugby – But obviously, first things first, you have I don’t think there’s a sport quite like it. to get back out on the pitch. My main You have to use your whole physical aim is to not just get on the pitch, but to force to tackle, but you also need good perform well this year. And to win the footwork, kicking, ball-handling skills, World Cup, of course! If we work hard, good communication, spacial we’ve got a great chance of winning. awareness… It entails so many different skills. It takes a whole team of people of different shapes and sizes, with each position bringing their own special skill set. We train each week to be the best “Playing for version of ourselves and push ourselves Power grab: Bern to get better all the time. We’re all on England is just of Bristol Bears the same path, wanting to be the best is tackled by in the world. That’s a great place to be. Exeter Chiefs pure happiness. Women in their At the time of going to press, the start date Premier 15s game of the Women’s Six Nations had not yet There’s no been confirmed. The 2021 Rugby World Cup is scheduled to take place from September feeling like it” 18 to October 16; englandrugby.com

THE RED BULLETIN 73 NEED TO CONQUER A MOUNTAIN OF WORK?

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75 VENTURE Travel

“‘Easy’ is not a word I’d associate with this glacier-ravaged landscape – it’ll make you work, and feel insignificant at times, but that makes it all the more rewarding” Ross Bell, MTB photographer

he first sounds I hear on waking are the gentle hum of the engine Tand the sound of waves lapping against the wooden hull. The ship has stopped. Swinging my legs out of the bunk, I pull on my clothes with a mix of trepidation and excitement, then head up to the deck to be greeted by a cold mist hitting my face. My boots squelch underfoot and our bikes, sitting in the corner, are sopping wet. Towering before us are the Trollstigen mountains – named after the serpentine 55km road linking the range. The name translates from Norwegian to English as ‘Troll’s Staircase’, which is certainly apt – with a steep nine-per-cent incline and 11 hairpins, this mountain pass is a monster, and today we’ll be ascending it. This is day three of a week-long mountain-bike adventure through the Norwegian fjords – those ancient inlets forged by glaciers where mountains meet ribbons of emerald water. Our floating home is HMS Gåssten, a retired Swedish warship luxuriously refitted to accommodate 10 guests as she navigates this labyrinth of waterways, from mountain to mountain, in search of backcountry heaven. As a mountain- bike photographer, my job has taken me from New Zealand to Canada, Namibia to Ecuador, but Norway is a destination I’ve long lusted after, eager to ascend up to 1,000m a day and ride some of the world’s most technical trails with the spectacular fjords as a backdrop. The smell of coffee entices me into the cabin where I find our guide, Ole, planning the route for the day. Our party ROSS BELL of eight will head 22km into the cloud- enshrouded mountains. After loading the Deck hands: HMS Gåssten’s crew, skiff with bikes and bodies, our captain, Sven and Tash, help Sven, takes us ashore and we wend up to unload bikes ‘the staircase’ by van, before ditching the after a big day in ADVENTURES H+I trail and ascending the glacier on foot, the mountains

76 THE RED BULLETIN VENTURE Travel

Lifting gear: Bell and his party hike- a-bike across the rugged Trollstigen mountains

Blue view: the fjords provide a spectacular backdrop

carrying our bikes. ‘Earn your turns’ is pointing downhill, I tease open my flying in every direction, it’s not long a phrase that comes to mind as I force brake levers and begin my grapple with before my brakes are cooking and my one foot in front of the other, much to gravity. Sections of steep, slick rock arms begin to ache. I’m not stopping, the complaint of my calves and thighs. are linked by narrow laces of technical though, and my grin grows ever wider The mountains flirt with us as they drift singletrack littered with tyre- as the rollercoaster-like trail in and out of cover, teasing glimpses shredding rock gardens. There ebbs and flows with the contours of the sheer scale of the terrain we’ll be are a few tactics you can opt of the hill and we slash our way dealing with. for, ranging from the slow and through the lush undergrowth. Although it’s mid-August, the tentative approach to the all-out As we near the valley floor, remnants of winter still cling to the hold-on-and-hope. The decision the gradient – and my adrenalin hollows as we trudge across slushy must be made quickly or the – eases as we skirt a river patches of snow, reaching our terrain will chew you up before cutting through silver streaks destination by a crystal-clear meltwater you get acquainted. of birch trees. This welcome lake. But we barely pause long enough Nail it, though, and it’s an change in pace allows me to to catch our breath – the allure of an incredible feeling. Bombing down digest this beautiful environment as epic descent is too strong. Front wheel the open mountainside with dirt we reach the edge of the fjord, ready

THE RED BULLETIN 77 VENTURE Travel

Down time: the group descend towards the turquoise waters of the fjord from the slopes of Liahornet

to head back offshore for dinner aboard As we ride through the village of Liabygda Steep the waiting HMS Gåssten. and its surrounding farmsteads, I enjoy learning On our final day, I emerge from below the brief opportunity to spin my legs deck to a canopy of blue sky and the sun before things turn steeper and our bikes curve – which barely sleeps at these latitudes are on our backs. The gradients here are Riding the fjords requires in summer – shimmering on the water’s so severe that no matter what your fitness a high-level of fitness and surface. “I saved the best for last,” says level, you’ll find yourself more often MTB competency, including Ole, smiling, as he points to Liahornet, than not climbing on foot. ‘Easy’ and technical climbs, rugged the 961m-tall gateway to the mountain ‘accessible’ are not words I’d associate singletrack descents and rock gardens. Here are a range that greets Norddalsfjorden – the with this glacier-ravaged landscape – few areas to brush up on… fjord we’re anchored in. We’ll be ascending it’ll make you work, and feel insignificant Hike-a-bike technique: to its peak on a mere 7km of steep trail. at times, but that makes it all the more lay your bike on the rewarding when you overcome it. ground with the drivetrain Red-faced and drenched in sweat, we facing downwards. reach the summit, our ship a mere pixel Place your left hand on the in a vast blue strip below us. The hard fork, right hand on the crank. part is over. It’s all downhill from here, in Squat and lift the bike over the best possible sense. After that? The your head. Rest the downtube on your back/rucksack. promise of a cruise to the world-famous Geirangerfjord, where Sven will edge the Take your bike out 4-5 times a week, in all weather, ship to a stop at the base of the 410m-tall to get acquainted with steep Seven Sisters waterfall for a post-ride and slippery trails. dip in the icy waters to soothe our tired Practice riding roots, rocks bodies. The ideal way to unwind after and drops. an action-packed week. Ensure your bike is well Ross Bell is an action-sports maintained – a brake Fjord escort photographer based in Scotland; bleed, fresh pads and Used as a minesweeper by the Swedish Navy from rossbellphoto.com. His trip was with grippy tyres pay dividends. 1973 to 1999, the oak-hulled HMS Gåssten is one H+I Adventures, which organises Prepare to dig deep, both of the last wooden ships to serve in any naval force. MTB and E-MTB tours around the physically and mentally. Owned by captain Sven Stewart, the 24m-long Climbing and descending vessel has been refitted with five ensuite bedrooms world and is planning another tour

is guaranteed to challenge and a saloon. HMS Gåssten’s size allows it to enter of the Norwegian fjords this August; ADVENTURES H+I you, regardless of ability. fjords other cruise ships cannot. mountainbikeworldwide.com

78 THE RED BULLETIN OUTRIDE THE DAY OUTRIDE THE ROAD

Maxx-D Mk13 Diablo Mk12 4000 Lumens 1800 Lumens Handlebar mounted Helmet mounted Refex Technology TAP Technology VENTURE Equipment

PROTECT Shielding your head in snow, slush or icy conditions is vital, but it’s about more Freezy rider than just impact Cold-weather cycling can be bliss, but you need to prepare... protection. Your head is an extremity, like your hands and feet, and keeping “Winter is the enemy conditions aside, it warm is crucial. of cycling in most cooler air has a higher A skullcap such as people’s minds,” says density and cold tyres the DHB Windslam is completely wind- and Canadian author a higher rolling waterproof and Tom Babin in his book resistance, requiring fits comfortably Frostbike: The Joy, more exertion. But with beneath your helmet. Pain and Numbness that comes a winter Keep your neck of Winter Cycling – workout, the avoidance (and the blood a personal account of of crowded public going to your head) insulated, too, with riding in the coldest transport, and a a scarf or tube like elements following an chance to appreciate the ENDURA Baabaa ill-prepared snowy the world around you. Merino one worn here. commute in his home As Babin says in city of Calgary. his book, “Perhaps Babin isn’t alone in those widely held riding out during winter. assumptions about the Combined with bib In the Finnish city of impossibility of winter tights or leg warmers, a jersey such as the Oulu, where winter cycling are wrong. long-sleeved ENDURA temperatures regularly Maybe it can be Jetstream does the job. sit below zero and something wonderful.” Throw on a gilet like snow falls more than ALBION’s weatherproof 160 days a year, 12 per example (opposite) to cent of the population control your body climate with layers. winter-cycled in 2016 (by way of comparison, just two per cent of Londoners did so the following year). Cold- weather cycling is tougher – weather

Annette wears KASK Valegro Team INEOS Grenadiers helmet, kask.com; DHB Windslam cycling skullcap, Dorica road shoes and Aeron Lab Neoshell overshoes, wiggle. co.uk; ENDURA Baabaa Merino Tech Multitube, FS260-Pro Jetstream Longsleeve jersey, Pro Shortsleeve bib tights and FS260-Pro Nemo II gloves, endurasport.com DAVID EDWARDS DAVID

80 THE RED BULLETIN VENTURE Equipment

If your hands and feet Robbie wears freeze, you can’t operate MET Trenta 3K Carbon your brakes or pedals. performance road helmet, DHB Extreme Winter met-helmets.com; gloves guard against wind OAKLEY Sutro sunglasses, and water, with a fleece oakley.com; DHB lining to keep your pinkies Windslam cycling toasty. Overshoes such as skullcap, Extreme Winter the Neoshell-fabric DHB gloves, Regulate Thermal Aeron Labs worn here will leg warmers, Troika road protect your shoes from shoes and Aeron Lab muck and spray, and make Neoshell overshoes, your feet forget it’s winter. wiggle.co.uk; ALBION insulated jacket, insulated gilet and ABR1 bib shorts, albioncycling.com Cold commutes can be Models: ROBBIE LUBOYA brutal for bikes – and ANNETTE REGIS @ condensation can turn to W Model Management ice on the frame, and road salt can rust your gears, chain and brakes. That said, MARIN’s Headlands 2 gravel bike delivers vital traction in less-than-ideal conditions.

THE RED BULLETIN 81 VENTURE Wellbeing

the balance between work and my sporting career. It was the best thing I did. Life is short and anything can happen. Why spend your life doing something you don’t love?” Focus on what you can control “There was a moment when I was with my mum, in tears, thinking, ‘Things will never be better. I’ll never be the person I was before.’ I couldn’t control the fact I was feeling so awful, but I could go for a walk [in the wheelchair] and call friends. These are things I can control, to help how I’m feeling.” Develop a sense of structure “Yesterday I had the worst day. If I was going to give up on things, it would have been then. But I’ve organised my life in such a way that quitting isn’t an option. I tutor young people, and that brings me ADVANCE out of myself. I can’t let those people down, and in helping Reframe your reality them I’m helping myself.” Be content to change Claire Danson was a member of Team GB when an accident changed her life for ever. your goals A year-and-a-half on, the triathlete reveals an important lesson the experience has “It’s important to let yourself taught her: it’s not what happens to us that defines us, but how we respond grieve, to say, ‘I’ve lost a relationship. I’ve lost my sporting career.’ But now I can t was meant to be just It took time to learn how to sit amount more than we think,” do parasport, which I want another training ride, but, up unaided, and to gain the she says. “So, if you’re not sure to take to a higher level, and for the reigning European strength to roll her wheelchair, whether you can do something, I’ve got more of a voice than I triathlon champion, that but smashing goals is what take it that you definitely can.” before. Hopefully I can help morning in August 2019 the 31-year-old has done her people. Things often don’t proved to be anything but whole life. “With a spinal cord Don’t undersell happen as imagined, so the routine. Claire Danson was injury, you have goals upon yourself ability to adapt and reimagine cycling through rural goals,” she says today. “I’m working at getting better your future is really important. Hampshire when she was Last May, less than a year at transfers [in and out of the I know that if I’m not fast involved in a collision with a after the crash, Danson took chair] at the moment. I see the enough for parasport I can tractor. Her spinal cord was part in the Wings for Life World barriers that I’m now facing as do other big challenges, like severed, causing paralysis Run, pushing herself around a a wheelchair user like sporting cycling from London to Paris from the waist down; both 5km circuit. Soon, she began targets. When I first wheelied [on the handbike]. It would be lungs were punctured, and training for a Half Ironman: a the length of the hallway, it was hard, but I know I could do it.” her ribs, shoulders, neck 1.9km swim, 90km handbike so exciting. You can apply that This year, Claire Danson will be and wrists were broken. ride and 21km wheelchair push. mindset to so much in life.” taking on an Ironman challenge As she drifted in and out “We’re all capable of a huge for Wings for Life. Support JESSICA HOLLAND of a coma in intensive care, Find what makes her and follow her journey on Danson communicated by you happy Instagram: @cdanson10. To squeezing the hands of her “I see the barriers “That may involve a risk, but take part in the Wings for Life loved ones as they pointed I face as a as long as it’s a calculated one World Run on May 9 and help to letters of the alphabet. One I’d say go for it. Before my raise money to fnd a cure of the first words she spelt wheelchair user like accident, I quit my job and

for spinal cord injury, go to JAMES MCKEWON out was ‘para-athlete’. sporting targets” started tutoring to improve wingsforlifeworldrun.com

82 THE RED BULLETIN 10 ISSUES getredbulletin.com £20

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AARON BLATT / RED BULL CONTENT POOL VENTURE Equipment

INSULATE Tinsley. “But the original suit was built for his friend, Hari Who wears wins Budha Magar.” The Gurkha lost both legs during a 2010 What would happen if the world’s best military operatives bomb attack in Afghanistan, designed their own apparel? You’re looking at it… but wanted to climb Everest. “He’d be the first double amputee to do it,” says Staz, “but no company was willing “In our world we’re called ‘kit says Staz. “You could stick “We don’t to even modify a suit, so we pests’,” says Louis Tinsley, equipment like emergency made him one.” Meanwhile, who, along with Anthony strobes onto it, too.” want to look the fourth edition of Purja’s ‘Staz’ Stazicker, owns British These details have made like human own suit (pictured right) was outerwear company ThruDark. their gear popular with highlighters made especially for his recent The world Tinsley speaks of soldiers, but their highest- mission to summit K2, the is the UK Special Forces, profile customer is Nepalese – dark and world’s second tallest peak, where the two served in the mountaineer Nims Purja, moody is in winter – something no one Special Boat Service together. who wore a ThruDark Summit our vibe” had done before. On January “We’d operate in all spheres, Suit on his successful 2019 16, 2021, his team achieved it. from deserts to jungles to mission to scale the world’s 14 Louis Tinsley, “It doesn’t get more gnarly mountains to the Arctic,” says highest peaks in record time. ThruDark than that,” says Staz. “We Staz. “In the Special Forces, “He signed up for the SBS didn’t want Nims worrying you're seen as the rock stars at the same time as us,” says co-founder about anything other than the of the military; we always had task at hand.” Tinsley adds, the best clothing, weapons “Nims asked for the world – as and optics, but we were still he always does – and he wants critical of it, so we’d bastardise The ThruDark SF it yesterday, so we created a it, make it fit for purpose." Patriot jacket has a double-lined suit with an extra These modifications Pertex Quantum outer layer of synthetic insulation shell and 850 fill- started small. “You might take power goosedown over the top, which, as far as the upper of a sock and sew insulation I know, hasn’t been done it into your para smock jacket,” before. And we still managed says Tinsley, “or put wire in to keep the warmth-to-weight the hood to make it fit more ratio below any other suit.” rigidly over a helmet.” But The SF Patriot jacket on they finally found their calling this page is redesigned from while free-fall training in the Nims’ Summit Suit 3. “It’s an US. “As we were parachuting, amalgamation of what we’ve zips were exploding,” says learned from the prototypes,” Staz. “We wanted to put our says Tinsley. “The fill is Italian expertise into garments. goose down – the finest you Nobody from our background can get. And we’ve reinforced was doing it at the time.” the shoulder panels with With ThruDark, they’ve Dyneema to stop any abrasion brought their know-how to when wearing a rucksack.”

fabrics like 100 per cent “We wanted a stormproof TOM GUISE waterproof Cordura or smock jacket you could take Dyneema, which boasts a off quickly,” adds Staz. “We strength-to-weight ratio 15 were going to call it the ‘Purja times that of steel, together Pullover’ as a tip of the hat.” with a fashion sense borne It’s all part of the Special from life-or-death situations. Forces ethos: ‘The unrelenting “We didn’t want to be up a pursuit of excellence’. “We mountain looking like human develop an item, test it, and highlighters, so the look is only put it into production dark and moody,” says when we’re happy,” says Staz. Tinsley. “That’s our vibe.” “Hence why we once launched They also fixed their logo a fucking parka in the middle to a Velcro arm patch. “In the of summer.” thrudark.com military, you wear your call sign on your arm to identify Listen to Nims Purja’s story who you’re speaking to in The Red Bulletin’s Beyond MATT HARDY/THRUDARK, SANDRO GROMEN-HAYES/NIMSDAI SANDRO HARDY/THRUDARK, MATT through night-vision optics,” The Ordinary podcast

84 THE RED BULLETIN VENTURE Equipment

January 2021: Nims Purja in his ThruDark Summit Suit on his historic K2 ascent

“Nims asked for the world – as he always does – and he wants it yesterday”

THE RED BULLETIN 85 VENTURE Gaming

The game and the watch merge on the main clock screen, UNWIND with the time displayed in Super Play time Mario Bros graphics Nintendo’s Game & Watch is well-named – it was created to kill time with fun

Gunpei Yokoi is famous for Certain he'd be fired, Yokoi Nintendo Game & Watch pad on modern games designing Nintendo’s original was surprised to see the toy systems were released, each controllers first appeared 1989 Game Boy console, but ordered into production. It featuring a clock and an on the 1982 Donkey Kong that’s not the first time the sold more than a million units addictive game. Tens of Game & Watch. This new Japanese inventor shaped and saved the struggling firm. millions were sold, setting release celebrates the 35th popular culture. In 1966, While on a train in the ’70s, Nintendo on a trajectory anniversary of Super Mario while working on Nintendo’s Yokoi noticed a businessman to become the gaming Bros, as well as featuring playing-card assembly line, absent-mindedly tapping at a powerhouse it is today. a Mario variation of Ball, Yokoi was caught by the calculator to relieve boredom. Yokoi passed away in the original Game & Watch company president playing This inspired him to pitch the 1997, but his influence is in game, which launched 40

with an extending-arm toy idea of a game inside a watch. every game we play today – years ago. It also tells the KENT TIM he’d made to amuse himself. Between 1980 and 1991, 60 the cross-shaped directional time. nintendo.co.uk VENTURE Gaming

ADAPT The silent treatment It’s the quiet ones you have to watch. SAS: Who Dares Wins advisor Billy Billingham talks essential stealth-game skills

Stealth video games are an unusual breed. Counterintuitive to our gaming instincts, they demand a player avoids action rather than engages in it, sneaking through missions without alerting the enemies. It’s a style of gameplay that’s recently featured in samurai adventure Ghost of Tsushima and Marvel’s Spider-Man (both on PlayStation) but is most The Hitman and her: “Hey, Maureen... Maureen... you can see our house from here” famously at the heart of the Metal Gear series and Hitman franchise. In Hitman 3, players once again undertake missions as the world’s best assassin, speed and aggression may noise travelling. Move slowly, how you’re going to keep Agent 47, choosing whether to get you the result you need. three to four inches with each the element of surprise. The sneak in undetected or charge Weigh that up, based on step, feeling for branches, next part is aggression; it in, guns blazing. your intelligence. When it tripwires or anything that could be an explosive entry. The former approach earns goes ‘noisy’, you lose that might make a noise. If a patrol The shockwaves of that hitting you bonuses, and it’s an control and have new barriers passes close, control your someone inside a room will attitude that can yield benefits to overcome.” breathing or just hold your take them a second to realise in real-world situations. Mark breath, but remember, what’s happening. By then ‘Billy’ Billingham MBE is a Be prepared they’ll be distracted by their you’re already inside.” decorated former SAS soldier “Make sure everything fits own noises. who took part in covert correctly, with no Velcro Don’t overthink it operations in Afghanistan and openings or anything in your Brace for action “Spending a long time in Iraq; has been a bodyguard pockets that will make a noise. “We use what we call a stealth mode can be for Hollywood personalities Tape down all the metal bits ‘ramping up’ system. The counterproductive – it puts including Russell Crowe, Tom on your weapon. With a night- lowest point of ramping up you on edge. If you have too Cruise and Angelina Jolie; and vision sight you get a green is stealth, but once you try long to prepare, your heart is a consultant and instructor glow on your face, so that to get through that door, for will be racing; your body will on Channel 4 reality show has to be light-sealed. And example, it’s going to get react where there’s danger SAS: Who Dares Wins. Here, rehearse. Make sure you noisy. Then you have to ask and fear. The flipside is your he reveals the techniques that know what sort of ground senses are more heightened. kept him alive and could guide you’ll be walking on, wear Lots of operations are unseen, you to 100-per-cent completion soft-soled shoes, and don’t unheard, and never talked of Hitman 3… carry bulky kit that could about, but the reality of catch on something.” creeping up on somebody and Go slow and steady knocking them unconscious “Stealth is always first choice Master the dark arts is virtually impossible. The on any operation – you can’t “Edging forward on the floor element of surprise will take beat the element of surprise,” could take all night, so don’t you to a point, then it may says Billingham. “Taking the do it until you’re very close. Billingham’s one-man have to get noisy.” show of inspirational time to approach something When it’s dark, sound Hitman 3 is out now on stories, An Audience with by stealth, you put yourself in becomes your main sense. Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham, is PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo

GAMESPRESS control. If you can go in quietly, Approach the target with the touring the UK this year; Switch, Stadia and Windows; get out quietly, but sometimes wind coming at you to prevent markbillybillingham.com hitman.com

THE RED BULLETIN 87 Hike!Spring doesn’t need to have sprung to explore the outdoors. Kit up and get out…

Photography JOE McGORTY Jessica wears MONTANE Bail Out beanie, montane.com; MARMOT WarmCube Featherless Hoody jacket, marmot.com; OSPREY Archeon 30 backpack, ospreyeurope.com; DRAGON Latitude X LL sunglasses, dragonalliance.com; SPOT Gen4 Satellite GPS Messenger, findmespot.com Opposite page: RAB Superflux Hoody jacket, rab.equipment

THE RED BULLETIN 89 VENTURE Equipment

Clockwise from top left: MIZU D7 640ml vacuum- insulated stainless steel bottle, mizulife.eu; SPOT Gen4 Satellite GPS Messenger, findmespot.com; BLACK DIAMOND Spot 350 headlamp, blackdiamondequipment.com; SUUNTO 9 Baro Titanium multisport GPS watch with barometric altitude, suunto.com; LAND ROVER Explore R smartphone, IP68-rated to be fully waterproof in depths of up to 1.5m for 35 minutes, landroverexplore.co.uk

90 THE RED BULLETIN THRUDARK SF Zodiac jacket with three-layer waterproof ripstop shoulders and hood, thrudark. com; OUTDOOR RESEARCH Stormtracker Gore-Tex Infinium Sensor gloves with Touchscreen Leather, outdoorresearch.com; BLACK DIAMOND Distance FLZ trekking poles, blackdiamondequipment.com; MONTANE X BMC Limited Edition Terra Ridge pants, montane.com MONTANE Bail Out beanie, montane.com; SMARTWOOL Merino 250 Baselayer Pattern Crew top, smartwool.co.uk; ARCADE Ranger Slim Adventure belt, arcadebelts.co.uk; MONTANE X BMC Limited Edition Terra Ridge pants, montane.com VENTURE Equipment

RAB Superflux Hoody jacket, rab.equipment; STANCE Uncommon Slab Feel360 outdoor socks, stance.eu.com; KEEN Terradora II waterproof hiking boots, keenfootwear.com; trousers, model’s own Model: JESSICA EMENS @ W Model Management

THE RED BULLETIN 93 VENTURE Calendar

9 February onwards DECODING ATHLETES In this six-part series, England rugby star Jack Nowell reveals the unseen life of an athlete, with guests including surfer Mick Fanning. On 9 all podcast platforms February onwards SKATE AFRICA Kenyan capital Nairobi has more than 60,000 rough-sleeping kids. But some, like Ezra Nyongesa – known as Balo – and his friend Samuel Mwangi, are using skateboarding to get themselves off the streets. “We gave Balo a skateboard, and within months he knew how to kickflip,” says George Zuko, 9 head of the Skateboarding Society of Kenya, which built the Shangilia skatepark and an orphanage February to help educate the children, give them a better life, and unlock their talents on a board. This is just onwards one of the true-life stories in this two-part series about skateboard culture in Africa, which also BRAD BINDER: heads to Ghana where the growing skate movement has drawn more women than men. redbull.com BECOMING 33 In 2020, 25-year-old South African MotoGP rider Binder became his country’s (and team Red Bull KTM’s) first- ever rookie winner. “Racing’s the only thing 5 I’ve ever wanted to do,” to 7 March he says in this doc, which tracks his career NEW SUNS: A FEMINIST from his karting start, LITERARY FESTIVAL aged eight. redbull.com Sarah Shin is the curator of feminist storytelling project New Suns, and this spin-off book fair, workshop and screening weekend explores the intersection between feminism and technology. This year’s virtual event examines the work of late American science-fiction author Octavia E Butler, whose unfinished Earthseed series depicted a prescient vision of the 2020s ravaged by social division and ecological disaster. Barbican, London; barbican.org.uk

94 THE RED BULLETIN VENTURE Calendar 9 February onwards LIFE OF KAI

Born in Maui, Hawaii, to a Californian windsurfer (his mum) and surfer (his dad), Kai Lenny has grown up among the waves and, at 28, is a surfing superstar. What’s it like to live such a life? Find out in this series, where a camera crew shadows Lenny for four months during the 2019-20 surf season as he chases his dream of 9 becoming the world’s best big-wave February board-rider. We meet his wave-loving onwards parents and coach; and witness his high-performance training regime, HIP HOP Code Red swells in Hawaii, heats in the RAISED ME World Surf League, and the greatest In 2016, Manchester- challenge of all – the gigantic waves born John Fairbanks – at Nazaré in Portugal. redbull.com better known as hip-hop broadcaster and author DJ Semtex – released his book Hip Hop Raised Me. This definitive account of the history of rap music and its influence on four decades of culture – as well as on Semtex’s own life (he began his career promoting parties and DJing at legendary clubs such as The Haçienda) – features iconic photos, memorabilia, and interviews with artists including Kool Herc, Wu-Tang Clan, Eminem, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and Kendrick Lamar. Now, the 46-year- old presenter of Capital Xtra’s Friday-night hip- hop show has launched a weekly podcast of the same name. “These are in-depth conversations, no agenda,” says Semtex. “New cutting- 9 edge artists, A-list artists, architects of February onwards sound. Moguls. Icons.” It THE MOUNTAIN WHY debuted in January with Public Enemy's Chuck D Californian pro freeskier Cody Townsend was in the middle of a mission to climb and ski the ‘Fifty (who wrote the book’s Classic Ski Descents of North America’, as detailed in the 2010 book of the same name, when 2020 foreword) discussing his ruined his plans. Realising his three-year timeframe was now unachievable, he decided to continue own experiences in the his quest – accompanied by fellow skiing pro Michelle Parker (pictured) – in a socially distanced and hip-hop community. altogether more taxing way. So, the pair bike-packed 1,662km across America with climbing, skiing

RED BULL MEDIA HOUSE, RED BULL ILLUME, GREG COLEMAN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, GOLD AND GOOSE/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, On all podcast platforms; and camping gear, to tick off three of the classic ski runs in Oregon and Washington State before

JOE MAGOWAN, MATTIAS HAMMAR/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, BJARNE SALEN/THE MOUNTAIN WHY MOUNTAIN SALEN/THE POOL, BJARNE CONTENT BULL HAMMAR/RED MATTIAS MAGOWAN, JOE djsemtex.com the last of 2020’s skiable snow ran out. Why? The answer lies at the heart of this film. redbull.com

THE RED BULLETIN 95 GLOBAL TEAM

Head of The Red Bulletin Alexander Müller-Macheck, Sara Car-Varming (deputy) Editors-in-Chief THE RED BULLETIN THE RED BULLETIN THE RED Andreas Rottenschlager, Andreas Wollinger (deputy) United Kingdom, ISSN 2308-5894 Germany, ISSN 2079-4258 Creative Directors Editor Editor Erik Turek, Kasimir Reimann (deputy) Ruth McLeod David Mayer BULLETIN Art Directors Associate Editor Proofreaders Marion Bernert-Thomann, Miles English, Tara Thompson Tom Guise Hans Fleißner (manager), Designers Culture Editor Petra Hannert, Monika Hasleder, WORLDWIDE Martina de ­Carvalho-Hutter, Kevin Goll, Carita Najewitz Billy Kirnbauer-Walek Florian Obkircher Photo Editors Chief Sub-Editor Country Project Management Eva Kerschbaum (manager), Marion Batty (deputy), Davydd Chong Natascha Djodat Susie Forman, Tahira Mirza, Rudi Übelhör Publishing Manager Media Sales & Partnerships Digital Editors Ollie Stretton Thomas Hutterer (manager), Christian Eberle-Abasolo (manager), Advertising Sales Alfred Vrej Minassian, Franz Fellner, Elena Rodriguez Angelina, Benjamin Sullivan Mark Bishop, Gabriele Matijevic-Beisteiner, Special Projects [email protected] Nicole Okasek-Lang, Britta Pucher, Florian Obkircher, Arkadiusz Piatek Jennifer Sabejew, Thomas Gubier, Fabienne Peters, Johannes Wahrmann-Schär, Managing Editors [email protected] Ulrich Corazza, Marion Lukas-Wildmann Ellen Wittmann-Sochor, Sabine Zölß Printed by Publishing Management Quad/Graphics Europe Sp. z o.o., Ivona Glibusic, Bernhard Schmied, Anna Wilczek Pułtuska 120, 07-200 Wyszków, Managing Director Poland THE RED BULLETIN Stefan Ebner UK Office Switzerland, ISSN 2308-5886 Head of Media Sales & Partnerships Seven Dials Warehouse, Lukas Scharmbacher 42-56 Earlham Street, Editor Wolfgang Wieser Head of Co-Publishing London WC2H 9LA The Red Susanne Degn-Pfleger Tel: +44 (0) 20 3117 2000 Proofreaders Hans Fleißner (manager), Project Management Co-Publishing, Subscribe Bulletin is Petra Hannert, Monika Hasleder, B2B Marketing & Communication getredbulletin.com Billy Kirnbauer-Walek published in six Katrin Sigl (manager), Mathias Blaha, Katrin Dollenz, Enquiries or orders to: subs@uk. 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96 THE RED BULLETIN

Action highlight

Wingin’ it The county of Møre og Romsdal in Western Norway is home to Mardelsfossen, one of Europe’s tallest waterfalls. The merest mention of the word ‘fall’ last August was enough to get Marco Waltenspiel, Marco Fürst and Max Manow of the Red Bull Skydive Team pulling on their wingsuits and flinging themselves into the void. To see these super fly guys in action, drop into redbull.com The next issue of THE RED BULLETIN is out on March 9 PETER SALZMANN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL CONTENT BULL SALZMANN/RED PETER

98 THE RED BULLETIN Adagp, Paris, 2021 Paris, Adagp, / © Jean Nouvel, Gilbert Lézénès, Pierre Soria et Architecture-Studio Soria et Gilbert Pierre © Jean Nouvel, Lézénès,

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THE TRACK DOESN’T MAKE ITSELF FAMOUS.

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150 years of engineering progress. Check it out at www.BFGoodrichTires.com/150years .